Reaching out from limbo
by galactica89
Summary: Set twenty years after Guardian Angel...
1. Chapter 1

"Bye!"

"Thanks for the lift, mum!"

The two girls, around twenty, waved the car good-bye as it sped away on the road. Then the blonde girl turned to her friend and asked "So what do you wanna do today?"

"Hmmm… let's see…" her friend feigned to think about it. "We could go to the cinema, or do some shopping maybe? Or we could…"

"Oh come on!" the first girl interjected "I know we've got lessons to attend to, don't worry Jess!" she paused and smiled "but I also know that we've got a teacher missing today and I'm certainly not wasting those blessed free hours!"

Jessica grinned. "Ok, why don't you tell me what your strange mind came up with this time Maggie?"

Maggie waited a few seconds before murmuring with a conspiratorial smile "What do you think of a tattoo?"

"A tattoo?" her friend repeated blankly. "You're not serious?" and the brunette started walking along the road.

"Why not?" Maggie insisted, catching up with Jessica. "Imagine a beautiful black and red rose on your bottom. It would be sexy!"

Jessica frowned. "I'm not sure I would like it."

Maggie sighed theatrically. "I knew you would say that! But…!" she added on a more cheerful tone. She reached out in her bag with the air of someone who's planned everything and Jessie stopped walking, smiling at whatever Maggie intended to do this time. She got a magazine out of her bag. "I brought this, so that you won't be bored when _you_'ll wait for _my_ little bottom to be painted with roses!"

Jessie shook her head. "You're crazy!" but she still grabbed the magazine and flicked through the pages as she started walking again.

Maggie smiled with satisfaction. "You're gonna be green with envy when you'll see my tattoo!"

"Your mum will go nuts." Jessica reasoned "Remember about dying our hair last week I can still hear mine yelling at the top of her voice 'what did you do to your hair! They were so beautiful'"

"Yeah mums over react all the time! What's the difference between blonde and brunette anyway? It's not as if we dyed them green or blue!"

"Yes well, you weren't there when my dad came home. It was World War 3 exploding!

"That's why I'm lucky not having any dad!" Maggie teased with a little smile.

Jessica caught Maggie's hand and squeezed it. She knew her best friend well enough to know that she didn't mean a word of it and that joking was her own way to deal with the pain this situation caused.

"Ok so back to this tattoo thing!" Maggie re-orientated the subject on her first idea. "I think we'll have lots of time to go there in the early afternoon, or during the lunch break. I checked on internet yesterday and there's a place not very far from here." She waited to be sure Jessica had no other objections to raise before adding "I thought we could have a quick look now!"

Jessica shook her head, grinning! "You really are crazy!"

Ten minutes later they were still wandering in the streets, giggling.

"No this way; it's a short cut" Maggie pointed out to a narrow alley on their left. It was dark and not welcoming.

"You sure?"

"Yes! Come on!" she noticed Jessica wasn't convinced. "You don't want to keep the Royal College of Art waiting for us, now do you?"

Jessica sighed and they entered the passage. Maggie bumped into her friend on purpose, smiling. Jessica frowned, amused and bumped into her friend too, forgetting the unwelcoming air of the alleyway. Ten seconds later, the two girls were giggling again.

Suddenly a van arrived from behind, driving fast. The two girls jumped aside as it drove past them and parked into the middle of the road with a squeal of tires. Before any of them could react, two masked men were coming out of the sliding door. One of them had a gun in his hand.

"What do you want?" Jessica shrieked, taking a step backwards.

The two men observed them a second and the one with the gun said "That one; the blonde."

They each caught one of Maggie's arms and started pulling her towards the van. She tried to free herself but they were too strong for her. Maggie kicked the gunned man, while Jessie attacked the other one.

Apparently judging he wouldn't be needing his weapon the first man put it back in his jacket and grabbed Maggie's legs to prevent her from kicking or escaping.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked.

"Heeelp!" Jess yelled as she hit repeatedly the man closest to her with all her might. But no matter how hard she punched, he wouldn't let go of Maggie. His grip was tight and nothing seemed to stop him. "Help!" Jessie repeated, praying that someone would hear her soon because Maggie's legs were already hoisted in the van.

"Jessie!" Maggie leaned out and reached out to her friend who caught her hand and pulled as hard as she could. The second man turned round and gave a hefty blow with the back of his hand on the brunette's face. She fell to the floor heavily. A searing pain surged on her forehead but at that precise moment she couldn't care less. The van's sliding door had just closed and the vehicle was driving away, taking her best friend far from her.


	2. Chapter 2

It was late on Monday as a dark haired man with a big grin on his face strolled down one of the NYPD corridors. He was joking with former colleagues, recalling the good old times when they had worked together. The man had left the force years ago now, but he was still in touch with some old friends from his NYPD time.

As they went past the coffee machine, the dark haired man opened a box and stuffed hungrily a doughnut in his mouth.

"The only reason you keep visiting us is not to see old friends but to eat our doughnuts!" A police officer in his fifties teased.

"That's the only reason why I ever started working here in the first place Tony! Free doughnuts!" The first man joked back.

"You'll never change! You'll always be a clown Dempsey!"

"Dempsey?" A cop repeated nearby.

"Yeah?" Dempsey turned to see the man.

"Lieutenant James Dempsey?" The cop checked and without waiting for the answer he added "You didn't change much."

"Excuse me, do I know you?"

"No, not really. I'm inspector Davis." He reached out to shake Dempsey's hand.

Tony Cooper intervened in his low slow voice. "Davis joined the NYPD five years ago. You wouldn't have met him. He's working mostly on cases implying cop's corruption."

"Your name popped up in one of my cases." Davis explained. Dempsey was a bit flustered so Davis added "Coltrane, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember…" Memories of Coltrane flashed back in his mind instantly. Joe's death on the docks; his forced undercover in London; Butch lying on the floor telling him… He shook his head to get rid of those bad memories. "But Coltrane's dead! He died some ten years ago in a cell. He's history." he concluded.

"Yes I know that, but there are still friends of him out there. We arrested a bunch of them last week. It seems some of them haven't forgotten you."

Dempsey raised his eyebrows, taken aback.

"Maybe you'd be interested to see that." Davis beckoned him towards his desk. "They tried to destroyed everything when we forced our way inside their hidey-hole but we manage to get that" And he took a file out of one drawer.

There was a pile of documents, concerning their research and underneath was a smaller file in which Davis chose a few sheets of paper. The first one was a picture of Dempsey some 20 years ago. The present-Dempsey sighed and grabbed the photo. 'You didn't change much'… well he could see a few differences! A smile crept on his face as he recalled the time at which this picture had probably been taken. It almost seemed to belong to another life. Then he noticed the picture which had been below this one and the grin disappeared of his face. He discarded his own picture on the desk and grabbed the next one.

It was the photo of a beautiful woman with light blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. This picture too had been taken some 20 years ago, but it wasn't intact. There was a round black burn on the forehead of the woman, like one made with a cigarette. "Harry." he murmured and brushed the surface of the mark with his thumb.

"What a waste of a beautiful picture hey!" commented Davis, shaking his head. "So, you knew this girl?"

But Dempsey was lost in his thoughts. Why did Coltrane's friends had a picture of Harry? Could she be in danger? Should he check Harry was fine? Instinctively he reached out for his jacket pocket where he kept his cell phone before realizing it was no use. He couldn't call her. Lowering his hand, he looked back at the picture with the black burn; it had destabilized him more than he would have thought it could. But then this was nothing more than a twenty years old picture; it couldn't mean anything. Not anymore.

But still, why keep this picture for so long?


	3. Chapter 3

Jessica was up again. The blow on her forehead was hurting her like mad and she made to touch it with her right hand but ended up holding her right elbow with her left hand. She must have bruised her elbow when she fell. She moved her arm slowly to see her elbow. It was only bruised. She touched her forehead with her left hand and took it off immediately. It was really painful, but at least she didn't seem to be bleeding.

The first sentiment she really experienced was one of intense fear. She felt paralyzed for a few seconds as she wondered what had happened to Maggie. After a minute of panic, she realized she had to react and pushed back all these thoughts, all her emotions at the back of her head; she would deal with it later. At once she fumbled with the zip of her bag and retrieved her iPhone. She touched the screen to call a number and realized that it wasn't operating. There was nothing displaying on the screen. Recalling her fall, she realised her phone had probably been broken when she had crushed on her bag.

She took a few steps back towards the main street she regretted so much they had left and looked around her. People were passing by without taking any notice of her. Life was going on as if nothing had happened. Then her eyes fell on the street sign. It wasn't that far. She could be there in less than five minutes. Feeling a bit relieved now that she knew what to do she started running faster than ever.

A few minutes later she was running up the stairs of the National History Museum of London on Cromwell Street. Realising it wasn't opening hours yet, she hammered frantically at the window-panelled door at the entrance till a guard came. Recognizing the young girl, he opened the doors.

"Hello Jessica. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"George!" she was out of breath "I need… to see…"

"Over there." the man answered the unfinished question.

"Thank you!" Jessica ran all the length of the entrance hall and started climbing the stairs, desperate to reach her goal. Suddenly, she spotted a middle-aged women walking with a pile of documents on the balcony of the upper floor.

"Mum!" she yelled.

The woman stopped, took a step towards the banister and looked at the young girl.

"Jessie?" Harry glanced at her watch. A quarter to ten. What was her daughter doing here? She was supposed to be studying.

"You gotta come now. I need your help."

"I have a job to do here Jessie!" Harry was a bit fed up with her daughter showing up unexpectedly at the museum every now and then, asking her for a ride or for money. She had to understand you couldn't leave your work like that.

"You don't understand. It's Maggie, there was… She's…" Jessie couldn't find the right words. She couldn't bring herself to say it aloud, afraid that it would make the situation real.

Harry frowned. She couldn't see her daughter very well from where she was standing, but there was a kind of distress and panic in Jessie's voice that made her wonder what could have happened to Maggie.

"What happened? Is she alright?"

"I…" she couldn't answer that. She didn't know if Maggie was alright. She didn't know where she was and who these men were. She didn't want to think about it. She lowered her head, her vision blurred as tears welled up inside her eyes. She had problem breathing, her legs were so weak. She took a shaking breath and looked back at the balcony.

"Mum, please. Mum… I need you!" she screamed falling on her knees as the full impact of what had just happened hit her for the first time. It was like a tidal wave crushing on her heart, on her brain, on her whole body and she felt that there would be nothing left but ruins and rumbles. Tears began flowing, rolling on her cheeks and splashing on the clean marble floor of the museum.

When she had seen her daughter fall to pieces like that, Harry had let go of all the documents she had been carrying and ran down the stairs separating them. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel her body tremble from within.

Once she had joined her daughter, she knelt and took her in her arms. Jessica hid her face in her mother's neck and held tight to her. Harry caressed her hair soothingly and tried to keep her voice calm.

"What happened? Talk to me darling."

"We... we were" Jessie's voice came in between sobs. "We were walking and … we were laughing… and these men came…" her voice trailed off as she couldn't suppress a new wave of tears.

"Men? What men?" Harry was really worried now.

Jessie shook her head. She didn't know who these men were.

"Did they hurt you?" Harry asked taking her daughter's face in her hands to force her to look at her. At that moment her eyes widened as she noticed the dark place around her right eye and on her cheekbone. She hadn't seen it in the distance but now it was unmistakable. She ran a finger on the bruise and Jessie grimaced.

"They punched me when I tried to help Maggie." she explained in an almost calm voice. "They took her, mum. There was nothing I could do… They took her."


	4. Chapter 4

It was late afternoon and Jessie was sitting numbly on a seat in one of the SI10's corridors. It couldn't be. This day had to be nothing but a horrible nightmare and she wanted nothing more than to wake up. She felt lost in a dark tunnel and couldn't see the end of it.

She had spent the last hours describing to police officers what had happened exactly; where they were, what time it was, how the men surprised them and kidnapped Maggie. Jessie hated to think about it again but she knew that the more details and clues she could give to the police, the sooner they would find her friend. After the deposition, she felt tired and frustrated, she hadn't seen their face, she didn't know the plate number of the vehicle; the only thing she could say was that it had been two men in a white van. It wasn't enough and she knew it. The officers also took names of their friends and of people they met on regular basis before leaving her.

In the early afternoon, when Maggie's mother had arrived at the station, panic-stricken, her own mother had gotten up, giving her the bag of ice with which she had been trying to soothe her contusion. Not able to stand this anymore, Jessie had left the room, catching a glimpse of her best friend's mother sobbing on her mother's shoulder as she closed the door.

Ever since, Jessie had stayed in the corridor, far from the stiffening ambiance of the office. She had no idea how much time had passed.

As if it was coming from a distance, Jessie heard a door opening down the corridor and then her mother's voice.

"I tried but nobody answers. It's not…" Harry stopped in mid-sentence, spotting her daughter slumped on a seat, face down, chewing her fingers.

Following her gaze, chief superintendant Jarvis put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "She'll be better soon."

"I hope." She answered slowly. "Maggie's her best friend since kindergarten. They're inseparable. You have to find her Chas."

Harry glanced in the room she had just left. Maggie's mother, Lucy Duncan, was staring out of a window, she seemed miles away. Harry couldn't imagine how she would feel right now if it had been Jessie and not Maggie that these men had taken. Chas' voice brought her back to present.

"We're doing everything we can, you know it. I've got men watching the security cameras of the neighbourhood, we'll find that van. Now you should go back home." He paused. "Call me if she remembers anything else."

Harry nodded. "Let me know if there's something new."

"Of course." Chas promised.

She marched slowly to her daughter's level, not knowing what to tell her. Jessie made no sign that she had noticed her mum. Harry sat on the chair next to her and took one of her hand in hers.

"Darling?" she whispered. No answer. "We should go home now. There's no point in staying here longer."

Jessie turned to face her mother. She had stopped crying now but her eyes were red and you could still see the place where the tears had run down her face.

"They're going to find her, right?" she said with a cracked voice.

Harry sighed. She would have given anything to make it easier for the young girl, but with so little clues, she couldn't think of anything reassuring to say. "Come." She stood up and put her arm around her daughter to get her up. Jessie didn't protest, she followed her mother to the car and didn't utter a word during the journey home.

...

Once they were back home, Harry went to the bathroom to run a relaxing bath for her daughter. She made it just the way the young girl liked it, not too cold, not too hot and filled with that essence from Paris 'Joie de vivre'.

Once the bath was ready, Harry looked for her daughter in her bedroom but she wasn't there, so she went up the corridor where a door stood ajar. She peered inside; Jessie was sat on her mother's bed, a framed picture in her hands. Harry got nearer, but she already knew which picture it was. It was a very old photo from her days in SI10, picturing her and her partner toasting after they had arrested a jewel thief at his daughter's wedding. Jessie was caressing the man's face.

"I wish he was here." she sobbed.

Harry took a deep breath. She had to be strong for her daughter. "It wouldn't change anything sweetheart." She got closer and retrieved the picture. She put it back in place. "Your bath's going to be cold."

Jessie nodded and left the room. Harry walked to the door but stopped before leaving. She turned to look at the picture. "I wish you were here too." she whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

The mood was sadder and greyer than the London's sky at the dinner table that night. Neither Jessica, nor her brother Thomas had eaten much and Harry had forced herself to swallow each mouthful not wanting to show her children how worried she was. Barely a word was spoken.

Around 8, Jess couldn't stand the silence anymore. "I'm tired, I'm going to my room." she declared and went upstairs.

Thomas looked at his mother, not sure of what he should be doing. "Don't leave her alone." She confirmed and he stood up immediately to follow his sister.

Once she was alone, Harry let her face fall backwards and closed her eyes. What a day! What an awful day! She collected the plates and the cutlery and went to the sink.

Doing the washing-up didn't keep her mind as busy as she had hoped and after closing the cupboard, she poured herself a glass of wine. She was about to sit on the sofa when she heard knocking at the door. Heaving a deep sigh she put her glass on the table and opened the door wearily.

A fresh grin and mischievous eyes met her and she barely had the time to register the flowers in the man's hand before he said with a heavy American accent. "Heya honey! I'm home."

The appearance of the American had taken her aback as she wasn't expecting to see him today. She frowned and articulated "James? You… you're not supposed to be here."

"Okay…" he said slowly. "Maybe I should try next door for a warmer welcome!" he joked. Having no reaction from Harry apart from a bigger frown he went on. "Come on Harry, where's your sense of humour? Lost it?" and he pushed her aside to enter, threw his travelling bag in a corner and stretched himself.

"God I didn't miss the weather, it's raining cats and dogs outside!" he complained with a smile, oblivious to the despair Harry was feeling. He hung his wet jacket and put the flowers on a little table in the hall; then he turned to face her, grinning "So, did you miss me?"

"Miss you?" Harry's sadness suddenly transformed into cold rage. How dared he come here and joke around like nothing ever happened. All the stress of the day, her fears, her pain, everything was boiling inside her and wanted to rage at him. "Miss you? Do you know… Do you know how many times I tried to call you? Did you ever bother to wonder what was happening here?" she incensed.

"Yeah well… you know time flies when you're having a good time and..." Dempsey tried to make it sound trivial, but Harry was in no mood for joke today. "My battery was dead, sorry!"

"Your battery!" Harry mocked comprehension. "Of course, and you couldn't use another phone."

Dempsey flung his arms up. "Don't you think you're over reacting a bit Harry! I come back and first thing I know you're biting my head off so please explain me what I did wrong because I don't have a clue!"

She shook her head wearily and turned away, hiding her face in her hands. In two strides, James was behind her. He gently slipped his arms around her body and hugged her. He could feel her body tremble.

"I missed you, you know" he whispered in her ear and kissed her neck. He grabbed her hands in his and played with her wedding ring between two fingers. "I missed my beautiful wife." She turned between his arms to face him. With one finger, he pushed away some hair hiding her eyes. She really seemed upset, even distressed, it had to be more than this stupid battery bothering her. "What's wrong honey?"

Harry swallowed hard. "Something happened." Dempsey looked concerned and worried. The malicious grin lighting his face when he had arrived five minutes ago had slipped off his face. "Tell me" he demanded nervously.

She knew it would hit him as hard as everyone else in the family no matter how she would say it. Maggie had been hanging around here since she was a little kid, therefore she was a bit part of the family. And knowing James, he would also blame himself for not having been here for his daughter. But now he was here, and in a way she felt it was a relief of its own. As she was about to tell him about Maggie's kidnapping, a boy's voice echoed from upstairs.

"Mum? What's going on downstairs? We heard you … talking." He didn't seem sure whether he should say talking or yelling.

"It's ok Tommy. Your father's back." she called back in a casual voice.

"Yeah? I thought he wasn't coming home before Sunday"

There was a little pause and then a low rumble told them that the children were both running down the stairs. Harry slipped out of her husband's arms so that he could kiss his kids. Tom was first and shared a manly clasp with his father. Then came Jessica who stopped a few steps away from him before flinging herself into his arms.

James barely had the time to see her, but he didn't fail to notice the big bruise covering most of her right eye. He shot a glance at his wife who smiled weakly, before gently pushing back his daughter's face to look at the bruise again. Her eye and her cheekbone were swollen and her skin all around had a blue-yellowish colour. As he was observing her, he saw tears forming in her eyes. "My little princess…" he murmured and held her tight in his arms. He looked up at Harry and asked in rather harsh voice "Who did that?"


	6. Chapter 6

Four hours later, James closed his bedroom door silently.

"I think she's sleeping now." he informed his wife who was waiting for him sat on the bed. He shook his head in disbelief as he sat next to her. "I still can't believe it's true."

"Well after spending nearly all day long at SI10, supporting our daughter while she was reliving the worst moment of her life, believe me, I know it's true."

With one arm he got her closer. She put her head on his shoulder and he kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, I should have been there for you."

"How could you know?" she reasoned.

"If I had checked my battery, you would have been able to reach me." He said remembering her words when he arrived home.

"Don't blame yourself. The only thing that matters is that you're here now." She kissed him swiftly before pillowing her head on his shoulder again. "So? You didn't tell me about New York. How is your aunt?"

"Better. She should be out of the hospital tomorrow."

Harry sighed with relief. "Good." At least this was good news. "Have you seen your mother?"

"Yes, yes. She was a bit disappointed not to see you and the kids, but she knows it's not easy with work and school... Maybe we could all go there together once this is over." He suggested.

"Why not." Harry liked the idea of a happy time when this ordeal would be finished. "By the way, why did you come back earlier?"

When no answer came, she raised her head from his shoulder to look at him. He seemed lost in his thoughts. "James?" she prompted.

He looked at her; her beautiful eyes, her shining lips. She hadn't change in those last twenty years; she was still the same woman than the one on the picture. He smiled and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "Haven't I already told you when I arrived? I missed my beautiful wife."

"You've only been gone for four days." she remarked.

Could she feel he was hiding her something? Dempsey hesitated. Should he tell her the truth? He felt a bit guilty; since they had finally been able to admit their mutual feelings more than twenty years ago, they had always been honest to each other. But she had already been through so much today that he couldn't bring himself to worry her with this story.

"So what? I can't miss my wife?" he stuck to his guns.

Harry smiled. He was so sweet. She leaned back into his arms and he kissed her on the forehead again.

Despite himself, Dempsey couldn't stop thinking about that encounter with Davis. The scene replayed vividly in his mind.

_It was the photo of a beautiful woman with light blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes._ _This picture too had been taken some 20 years ago, but it wasn't intact. There was a round black burn on the forehead of the woman, like one made with a cigarette. "Harry." he murmured and brushed the surface of the burn with his thumb. _

"_What a waste of a beautiful picture hey!" Davis commented, shaking his head. "So, you knew this girl?"_

_But Dempsey was lost in his thoughts. "So?" Davis prompted._

"_What?" Dempsey jerked awake._

"_Do you know what happened to that blonde?" repeated Davis_

"_Well," he said slowly "I married her."_

God, yes, he had married her and she had made him the happiest man ever for the last two decades. The woman he was holding was the best thing that had ever happened to him, she had given him love, happiness and two wonderful children. But there he was, lying to her about something important.

'It can't be that important' he tried to convince himself. 'It was important enough to make you leave New York the very next morning!' he countered himself… He frowned, tightening his grip around his wife.

Did he think there was still a contract on his head in New York? No! They had flown to New York since their wedding on numerous occasions and he never had had any problem. Coltrane was dead and those pictures were 20 years old after all. 'I just didn't like that. After all, it was a disfigured picture of Harry; it was unexpected and it wasn't pleasant.'

Harry entangled herself from his arms and kissed him. "Let's go to bed, tomorrow's going to be a long day."


	7. Chapter 7

Dempsey was pacing up and down in one of the MET office waiting for a detective to come back with Maggie's file. Patience had never been his forte, but his constant walking was grating on Harry's nerves. The situation was bad enough without him making it worse.

Jessica had insisted this morning on coming back to SI10 to know exactly how the enquiry had progressed. Harry wasn't sure it was such a good idea, but James had been all for it. At least she had spared this to Tommy by insisting for him to go to school.

Barely had they arrived than Dempsey was asking to read the files, and see what they had gathered. To Harry's despair, Chas, being a long-time friend, had obliged, saying he would join them later. She and James had left the force a long time ago and she was happy to lead her life far from crime. Becoming a mother had changed her priorities and she didn't like the look on Dempsey's face as the officer came back with a copy of the files. Soon, he was scanning the papers. Then, he handed her some of them "What d'you think about it Harry?"

She couldn't help but smile; after all those years he hadn't changed, he still hated paper work as much as ever. Despite herself, she grabbed the files and flicked through them. The case wasn't going anywhere. They had spotted a white van on different cameras, and its plate number was one of a stolen vehicle. But so far, they had no idea where it could be now. She raised her head and spotted James absorbed by a piece of paper, one hand clenching at the seat. It was Jessica's deposition.

Harry put the files back on the table and lay her hand on his. They shared a supportive look and at that moment, Chas Jarvis entered the room accompanied by Lucy Duncan. Harry gave her a weak smile but she didn't seem aware of it. The woman sat in the corner of the room quietly, not looking at any of them, her grief seemed beyond tears. The couple looked at her sadly, not knowing what to say.

"So? Do you have something? Do you know who these men are? When are you going to find her?" Jessie jumped on the superintendant not bearing their stillness.

Dempsey put a hand on her arm. "Calm down princess." Jessica looked a bit upset but resumed her seat, leaving her father in charge. "So Chas, what do you have?"

The head of SI10 pointed to the files Harry had been reading. "The van is a dead end. It was reported as stolen on Tuesday by a delivery company. We spotted it on a few cameras around the street where Margaret Duncan was kidnapped but then it disappeared." He shook his head, frustrated not to have better results with this point.

"What do you mean it disappeared? Vans don't disappear, they change roads, they park into garage; they just don't disappear!"

"Don't you think I know that Dempsey? I've got a team dedicated to watch speed cameras, bank's security videos all around the street where the van was spotted for the last time but they haven't found anything yet!"

Dempsey started pacing again. "What about all your electronic doodads? What about satellites?"

"What satellites?" Chas repeated blankly.

"You know, satellites, out there" he waved above his head "Watching us all the time. Why don't you find that damned van with the satellites?"

Chas was a bit fazed. "It doesn't work like that Dempsey." He glanced at Harry for support.

"SI10 doesn't own a satellite James, and even if it did, you would have to point the satellite at the right place at the right moment for it to show you something. It's like a computer, you can't find an information if it's not here."

Dempsey flung his arms up in fury, made a few steps and leaned on the wall. "Ok, let's forget the van for the moment. What about the people behind it? Any clue on who they are, their motive?"

"None of Maggie's friends have criminal records and Jessica didn't recognize the men's voices. So it probably wasn't a planned abduction. Maybe they chose her on a whim."

"No!" Jessie cut in, remembering. "It wasn't random. The man with the gun clearly said it was her they wanted."

"You're sure baby?" Dempsey checked.

She nodded.

"So they knew Maggie…" Dempsey was walking again, running nervously a hand in his hair. Harry knew he was back to his old cop's habit, building up a theory.

Mrs. Duncan stifled a sob. "Who would want to hurt my little girl? She's always been so nice." She buried her face behind a tissue.

But Dempsey didn't pay her any attention, he was back to the table, searching through the files. "Is that the people you checked?" he demanded rashly, showing Chas a list of names.

"Yes, these are the friends your daughter and Maggie's mother named us yesterday. But there's nothing to find. Most of them are regular teens."

"Well there has to be someone! Something!" he was starting to be 'possessed' by the case just like he used to get years ago when lives were at stake and the enquiry seemed to go nowhere.

He knelt near his daughter. "Try and remember. When you were in this alley did you see anything? At the back of your mind, visualize it."

Jessica closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but not long after she was staring at her father with tearful eyes. "No, there's nothing else. I told you everything. They came out of the van and we tried to fight them, but… But there was nothing I could do."

"Then what about their clothes, their hair, their voices? What about the vehicle? Was there something special about it like marks or scratches?"

Harry started frowning as she heard him churning out questions to the poor girl who was shaking her head desperately. Maggie's mother stifled another sob near them and Dempsey rounded on her.

"So what about her frequentations? Did you notice anything strange lately? Phone calls? Visits?" he turned to Chas "Did you check her e-mail address?" but without waiting for an answer he was already back to facing the women. "Did she have a row with someone ? At school maybe? Or somewhere else, she had a job on Saturdays right?"

"She only had friends!" her mother whimpered.

"Seems not! Come on! One of you must think of someone! Anyone!"

"Ok! That's enough!" Harry boomed. She got up and pushed violently her husband out of the room into the corridor then shoves him into the ladies' locker room.

"What are you doing?" complained Dempsey as she pushed him with one finger towards the back of the room. "Hey! What's the matter with you?"

"I've had enough!" she answered vehemently.

"Enough what?"

"You know exactly what I mean."

"I haven't the faintest idea!"

"You haven't?" she was ironical.

"No!"

"Well listen to me carefully!" She bore her eyes into his. "I don't know what you think you're playing at but I don't like it. I really don't! You're not a cop anymore, so why don't you let Chas do his job!"

"Look I'm trying to help here! If we wanna find Maggie, we need new hints, new tracks! You know that! Jess or Lucy have to know something, someone, and they're not helping. We need that name!"

Harry looked at him in total disbelief. "They're not helping? I'd rather say that YOU're not helping, _lieutenant_!" her voice was louder and louder with every word "Don't you realize who you're talking to anymore? Lucy is Maggie's mother and Jessica, your daughter, is her best friend! That's who they are! So for god's sake will you stop behaving like an INSENSITIVE STUPID BASTARD!"

Dempsey's face had slowly hardened during her little speech. They were now staring at each other with contempt, almost hatred. Harry's eyes were shining with angry tears. It seemed the last twenty years had evaporated into thin air and they were back to those days when they couldn't stand each other.

"Stupid bastard am I?" he repeated in a voice too calm to be genuine. "Well let me tell you something lady! The enquiry's going nowhere. If we haven't got any new clue in the next two days, the odds on finding Maggie safe and sound will be close to zero!" He threw her a challenging look. "I don't know if you remember but she's our daughter's best friend!"

Harry wasn't fazed at all. "So what? You want to work on the case, you want to play cops and robbers again? Well so be it, but don't forget the stats coming with the job!"

"What stats?" he asked furiously.

"The highest rate of suicides, alcoholism" she paused and bore her eyes into his "… of broken marriages."

Dempsey opened his mouth but didn't say anything. The seconds stretched into eternity till Harry turned her head and made to leave the room. Standing in front of the closed door she addressed to him with a sad voice.

"Like I said, you're not a cop anymore. Do us a favour, leave it to Chas."


	8. Chapter 8

The rest of the day had been slow and painful for the couple. Harry had taken Jessica to her school in a vain attempt to get her to think about something else. Alone in their house, James and Harry had found hundreds of stupid reasons to avoid each other all day long, but none of them wanted to leave the house, hoping that Chas may call with some news.

When Harry had come back with the children in the evening, they were spared the trouble to pretend everything was fine, because Jess and Tom were so sad and worried about Maggie that they weren't paying any attention to their parents.

When Harry left Jessie and entered her bedroom around 10pm, James was lying on his side, his back to the door, pretending to be fast asleep. She didn't waste any time into slipping silently into bed before he could change his mind. She turned off the light and closed her eyes resolutely.

It took them a long time to fall asleep, and even then it wasn't a peaceful sleep; neither of them wanting to talk about what had been said earlier; both of them suffering in silence because of what wasn't said now.

...

On Saturday morning, the phone rang a bit before noon. The tension between Harry and James had abated a bit during the morning, but something was definitively missing in the way they looked at each other.

Harry answered the call. "Hello?"

"Harry." Chas sounded nervous "Listen I need you and Dempsey to come here."

Harry frowned, it didn't sound like good news. "Did you find…" she began but Chas talked over her "Not on the phone. You have to come."

"Ok, we'll be there first thing this afternoon." she promised

"No, no, you don't understand. You need to come right now."

"Right now?" she repeated, now she was worried. Harry glanced around her, trying to meet James' eyes but he was sitting on the couch, talking with his son, his daughter cuddled up against him. Well at least, the kids hadn't noticed anything.

She lowered her voice. "Chas what…" He interrupted her again "Just come, I'll explain." He paused and added "Tell your children to stay home."

Harry hung up slowly. A big lump had appeared in her throat during the phone call. It definitely wasn't going to be good news for Maggie if Chas refused to talk about it on the phone and didn't want Jessica to come. She took a deep steadying breath and crossed the lounge.

"Chas called." she said in a casual voice.

"Yeah? They found her?" The hope in Jessica's voice broke Harry's heart but she forced herself to remain as calm and neutral as possible as she looked back in Jessica's big blue eyes.

"He didn't say so darling, I'm sorry." Then she turned to James. "He would like us to join him at the MET to help him sort out some information. Papers, names, things like that" she invented.

Dempsey was a bit surprised that someone could want him to sort papers, but he was also willing to help. "Sure! We'll go there after lunch."

"In fact, he'd prefer us to go now." She shot him a meaningful look, stressing as much as she dared on 'now'.

"Of course..." he said slowly, getting the message.

"I'm coming too!" Jessie said brightly, eager to do something for her friend.

"No darling, you stay here." Harry answered quickly.

"But I want to come!" the girl started to argue and she looked at her father for support. She couldn't believe it when he said "You heard your mum. You stay here."

"You couldn't help Jess." Her mother still tried to explain while she grabbed her jacket "We'll only be looking at dates and names on the computer. Besides you're all messed up, I'd like you to rest today."

She leaned to kiss her on the forehead but Jessica backed away, upset. Harry sighed, she couldn't blame her daughter. She waved good bye to Tommy and left with James.

As they sat in the car, James looked at her closely "We ain't going to look at names, are we?"

"I don't know, James. Chas refused to say anything on the phone."

Seeing she was anxious, he put a reassuring hand on her thigh and started the car.

"We'll see then."


	9. Chapter 9

When the Dempseys entered the office, several officers stopped what they were doing and gaped at them a second or two before pretending to be buried in their work again. Dempsey shot Harry a 'did we miss something' look, but she barely shrugged; she was too nervous to spare any thought for something else than what Chas intended to tell them.

Chief superintendant Jarvis was giving instructions to a nervous-looking light brown haired man. When he turned round, Dempsey did a double-take. "Fry! Is that you?"

The sergeant stopped in his tracks. He didn't seem at ease.

"Morning Dempsey, Harry." he stammered before slipping past them and disappearing in the corridor.

"I can't believe he's still working here." Dempsey said, jabbing his thumb towards the door closing behind them.

"He's a very capable officer as long as he doesn't go on the field" Chas commented. Dempsey didn't seem convinced. "Let's say he improved a lot lately." Chas conceded. Then he took a deep breath, his expression was serious, worn-out. "But that's not why I called you."

"Do you know something about Maggie?" Harry wanted it to be over. No matter what the truth was, she wanted it over.

"Let's go in private." he opened the door to the office that had once belonged to Gordon Spikings and was now his and they all entered in.

The room hadn't changed much. The chairs, the desk were all in the same place; in fact, you could have expected to see Spikings enter the room at any second claiming his chair if it hadn't been for the picture of Chas and his wife and the laptop sitting on the desk.

"Unfortunately, I have only bad news to tell you." Chas had been happy and proud to take on the post of superintendant of SI10, the job had always brought him great satisfaction, but there were times, like today, when he would have given anything not to be sitting at this desk.

"Maggie Duncan is dead." He said flatly. Intake of breath from Harry; clenching of fists from Dempsey. "We received this in the middle of the morning."

He handed them a file. Harry grabbed it and opened the folder. Inside was a picture of the young girl, gagged and tied to a chair. There was no doubt that she had had a hard time before dying. She had a dishevelled appearance, her clothes, her hair were a mess and her face was covered in bruises. Her head was lolling to one side and on the side of her neck, you could see a thin red line. Her clothes below were soaked in blood. Harry couldn't bear the view and gave the file to Dempsey.

"So you found the bastards who did that?" he asked with a shaking voice.

"Not exactly." Chas didn't feel comfortable. He cleared his throat. "Like I said, _they_ sent the photo. I'm sorry to say that if they hadn't, we still wouldn't have anything." he admitted.

"So that's all you've got? A picture?" Harry couldn't believe it.

Chas nodded. "We don't even know where the body is."

"What about Lucy? Maggie's mother. Did you tell her?" Harry asked concerned.

"Yes, I did. Not long before you arrived. She didn't feel well so the doc sent her to the hospital, I guess they're going to give her tranquillizers."

"I should go and visit her." Harry said immediately.

"No, you're not going to do that, sorry." Chas seemed even more exhausted. "There's more" he sighed.

"What do you mean more?" Dempsey felt lost. "You just told us you didn't know anything else."

Chas sighed. "Not about Maggie, no. But they sent this with the photo. This is the reason why I called you."

He handed them a piece of paper which had been protected by a see-through plastic, to protect the fingerprints or other clues from being altered. It was a white sheet on which letters cut from newspaper had been pasted to form sentences. They both read the message together.

_Payback time has come Dempsey_

_1 down, 2 to go_

_The worst is yet to come_

The truth took a few seconds to sink in. Harry seemed not to be able to breathe anymore. She looked to her right; Dempsey was sat in his chair, miles away. The news had hit him hard.

"What does this mean?" she managed to articulate. She looked at Chas. "You think it's all related to James? But then… why Maggie?"

"Don't know. That's really odd." Chas sighed. "It looks like revenge if you ask me. I've already asked Fry to fetch some files from the records; criminals that threatened you, or who were released from jail lately, things like that. Of course, it would be easier to know what we're looking for; we need to understand the meaning of this." He showed the file containing Maggie's pictures and the note.

"I don't understand anything." Harry said honestly. She really felt lost. "I mean, why Maggie? Why kidnap her and kill her? And what does '1 down, 2 to go' means?"

"Well that's what I wondered too, it doesn't make any sense" Jarvis confirmed "For one thing, Maggie's not your daughter, and two, if they want to eliminate all the person close to Dempsey, there are still 3 people left: you, Jessica and Thomas."

Harry gasped. "Oh my god! We left Jess and Tommy alone!"

Dempsey seemed to jerk awake at this, he was about to stand when Chas raise a hand to stop him. "Don't worry, I already sent two teams to check on your house. Your children are safe. Anyway, I don't think they would strike again right now. They've just killed Maggie, they want you to have time to fear what's coming next, anticipate their next action." He paused. "It's a good thing, it's going to give us time to react."

"Right." Dempsey agreed, sitting back. "So what do you know? You found fingerprints on this?"

"Not a single one." Chas shook his head. "In fact the only thing new is that it's related to you. Any idea on who it might be?"

"No!" Harry said earnestly, but Dempsey swallowed hard. The two others turned to look at him.

"Coltrane." He croaked. The mere fact of saying the name made him sick. Coltrane had already tried to destroy his life twice, wasn't it enough?

"Coltrane?" Harry repeated disbelievingly. "But he died years ago."

"But he still had friends." Dempsey shook his head in disgust. "I must call New York. They have to send us Davis' files." He stood up, grabbed Chas' phone and dialled a number. Soon he was talking with a NYPD officer.

"Who's Davis?" Chas enquired in a low voice.

Harry shook her face, her eyes gazing in blank air. She didn't know who Davis was, or what files James was talking about. She didn't know how Coltrane could be related to this, and why James thought he might be. The only thing she knew was that her children, and probably herself were in danger, and that James had had information about this but did not bother to warn her. She crossed her arms around her body as if it could act like some shield that would protect her from any further harm or deception.


	10. Chapter 10

Harry was already looking through the first printed pages New York had faxed them. When she reached the scanned photo of herself with the cigarette burn, she stopped.

"Ok, that was the last one." Chas declared, coming back from the fax with the last papers.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked James, paying no attention to Chas' return. You could feel disappointment in her voice.

Dempsey scratched his head. "Look, this was a 20 years old photo and …"

"and you thought it didn't mean anything, so you didn't bother to tell me. Well you were wrong and now Maggie's dead!" she accused.

He reacted instinctively, jabbing a finger at her "Now, that's below the belt! You know perfectly well that telling you about the photo wouldn't have changed anything, we would never have made the link!" The tension was mounting.

"Oh you think so!" she was screaming now. "How many other things did you 'forget' to tell me?"

Chas judged it was time to end this discussion. They still had a lot of work to do if they wanted to solve this case.

"Ok that's enough!" he said in a stern voice. Sixteen years at the commandment of SI10 had given him more confidence than in the years he had worked with the arguing couple. They both stared at him, surprised by the interruption. "We must get to work now, and having a row with each other won't help. It won't help Maggie, and it won't help your children if we're right to think they're going to go after them next."

They both sat back quietly. "Are you sure they're safe?" Harry checked.

"We can call the surveillance team if you prefer."

Harry nodded. She felt worn and tired.

Chas grabbed an RT "Control to Charly 2. Come in please."

When Sergeant Stuart answered and confirmed that everything was quiet, Harry felt better. She leaned back in the chair looking at her knees. Her children were safe. Yes, but for how long?

"Ok, so I sent the message back to the lab, we'll see if they can find anything. For the moment, we've got all those files New York sent us and Fry's gone in the archives to get records about criminals you arrested during your time at SI10. We should check them too."

"I'm telling you it's Coltrane." Dempsey repeated stubbornly.

Chas frowned, but nodded. "Ok, let's focus on this first." He got up, walked around his desk and leaned on it. He felt it was better not to have a desk between them when they talked about this case. He wanted Harry and James to know that he was here by their side. "I got sergeant Thompson in charge of the case, he's already looking for people who could have had connections with Coltrane on Interpol. The main question is why kidnap and kill Maggie Duncan if it's related to you."

James shook his head. "I don't know. Maggie is... was Jessica's best friend since they were kids but I can't see why they would attack her to get to me."

Harry looked up "Unless… Unless they made a mistake, unless Maggie wasn't the one they wanted."

"But your daughter said…" Chas began

"Yes I know what she said, but…" Harry paused, thinking. She suddenly shifted through the papers on the desk and took one. It was Jessica's statement. "Yes, that's it! Jessica declared that the men's words were 'That's her. The blonde.' But only a week ago,…" she stopped in mid-sentence, horrified at her own conclusion.

"Only a week ago, Jessie was blonde and not Maggie…" Dempsey finished, following her trail of thoughts. He felt a weight falling at the pit of his stomach as realization dawned on him. If the girls hadn't decided to dye their hair, his daughter would still have been blonde. Jessica would be the girl on that photo, Jessica would be dead.

"Then after all, they meant to kill your daughter." Chas sat back behind his desk. It was worst than he had thought.

Dempsey took Harry's hand in his and looked at her straight in the eyes. "I'll never let them touch our kids." he promised. "Never."

Harry wanted to nod, she knew he would never allow anyone to hurt their children, but somehow she couldn't muster the force to do it right now. Maybe it was because of the things he had hidden her, she felt it was some kind of betrayal. Maybe it was because, had those men known who Jessie really was, James wouldn't have been able to protect her no matter what he was promising now. Or maybe she was simply too emotionally-tired and scared. She didn't know what to think exactly and turned her head to stare at her knees, lost in her thoughts, lost in her fears.

"Chas, I want the case." James said unexpectedly.


	11. Chapter 11

"What?" Harry and Chas said at the same time.

"You're not a cop anymore." Harry reminded him, coming out of her reverie.

"Harry's right Dempsey." Chas confirmed.

"So what? You're the boss, you could get me a clearance so I can investigate, ask questions, have access to all the files. Like a detective or something like that." he surmised.

"It's not that easy."

Dempsey snorted.

"Come on Dempsey, you know there are rules and procedures. I can't do whatever I want, this is serious." Chas reasoned.

"What's serious? Their neck or your pension?" he raged. "Come on Chas I need your help!"

Chas sighed. "Let's face it Dempsey, even if you were still a cop, I wouldn't give you the case" Chas was rational. "You're emotionally involved."

"Of course I'm emotionally involved!" he bellowed "that's MY kids we're talking about! What do you expect me to do? Sit here nicely and wait to see who's murdered and who's not?" He walked to the window and leaned on the sill, catching up his breath. Then he went on with a much calmer yet determined voice. "I'm doing it Chas, whether you help me or not."

Chas shook his head. He should have expected this. Dempsey was no man to sit and wait while his family was in danger. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "Ok, I'll see what I can do." he conceded and stood up. He had people to see and phone calls to make. "You can already consult all the files you want, just ask Fry, he's in charge of all research in the records and if you…"

Harry hadn't moved or said anything for a few minutes now so that her interruption made both the men jumped. "Get me that clearance too."

"What?" the men said.

"I said 'get me that clearance too'" she repeated in a resolute voice.

"Oh no! You're not doing this!" Dempsey exclaimed.

"It's not up to you to…"

"You're NOT doing this!" he repeated furiously.

"This is also my family!" she retorted. "What do you expect me to do?" she used his own words against him.

Chas felt he'd better leave them alone for a while and left the room without anyone noticing him. He had orders to give to Thompson anyway. It felt strange. There hadn't been so much tension and electricity floating in the air of this office since… well since the time Harry and James had been working here.

Inside the office, James was pacing. Harry hadn't moved an inch, her arms crossed, her eyes resolute.

Dempsey shook his head, upset; there was no way he would let her do that. "I thought you said that..."

"Forget what I said." She dismissed his comment before he could even say it aloud. It was true, only yesterday, she had made it clear that she didn't want them to have anything to do with police work anymore, but yesterday her family hadn't been in danger. "Things are different now, I want to do it."

Damn! Harry was so stubborn sometimes! He decided to try another approach and knelt in front of her. "This is gonna be dangerous Harry. I don't want you in the front line."

"_You_ will be." She countered.

"That's not the same." He dismissed her comment immediately.

"How's that?" she exasperated.

He shook his head and walked back to the window.

Harry bit her lip and frowned. He was concerned, maybe even afraid, but she had to do it, _they_ had to do it, together. Determined, she stood up and walked to his side. "You know, one day somebody told me that it was with me you stood the best chance to stay alive. I believe this person was right." She paused and grabbed his hand. "I don't want to lose you."

"Me neither." His voice was low, tired. "So why don't you stay with the kids. We'll find you a safe house and…" he stopped; she was shaking her head slowly.

"What happened to those words? In sickness and in health, till death sentence do us apart."

"Damn it Harry, you're not funny!"

"I never intended to be. I'm just trying to make you see…" Her voice was calm now. The threat hanging above her family still weighted heavily on her, but now that she knew they would act she felt calmer. She only had to make him see that it was the right solution. "We're a team James! Whether it's at SI10 or in our private lives, we've got to stick together! Don't you remember what you told me that day at the museum? 'We're a team, we're partners, we know each other's moves before we do them'. You were right. We need each other."

She tried to meet his eyes but he kept scrutinizing the horizon through the window. "You work in, I work in." she whispered.

He finally turned to face her. He cupped her face in his hands and gave her a small kiss on the lips. His arms slipped around her shoulder and he rested his forehead on her hers. "Let's get our kids into safety and find those bastards… partner!"

She smiled weakly and nodded. She knew he was about to kiss her again so she freed herself from his embrace on the pretence to go and read one of the New York files. She wouldn't have been able to explain why but now that she knew they would be working together on the case she didn't feel like being near him. Her emotions were once again raging and colliding with fury in her heart and in her mind. She felt betrayed, lost, sad, furious and scared and didn't know how to deal with it. For now, it was easier to be looking at facts and data than facing her own crumbling reality.

Dempsey watched her shifting through the papers, it had been years since she last did that. When he had left the force two decades ago he would never have believed he would have to plunge into this again, nor that he would be doing it with Harry. They had both agreed that this job was far too dangerous and time-consuming to have a family and there he was, signing up again for the job and taking his wife with him into his madness. God he hoped he wouldn't regret this!


	12. Chapter 12

"… unmarked police cars and watchmen all around the perimeter. Nobody will be able to go in or out without us knowing it." Chas concluded proudly, as he peered over a plan with little cross and arrows, determining where the different officers would be stationed. He looked at the couple standing next to him.

"Sounds good." Dempsey was double checking the map, he wanted to be two hundred percent sure that Tom and Jess would be safe. "Where did you say the guard will be in the back garden?" he demanded.

Detective Sergeant Thompson came forward and went through all the details with him again. He was the detective in charge of the case since Maggie's abduction and he was very capable which was the reason why the superintendant Jarvis had trusted him with the case even if some people might have said he lacked experience. He was now presenting his ideas to Dempsey.

"I think we should start looking for the men who kidnapped Margaret Duncan before going after the brain of this organisation. The henchmen should be easier to locate and maybe they will lead us to their boss."

Dempsey nodded "Why not."

The sergeant went on. "The fact that they knew where to ambush the girls makes me think that their plan was well thought-out. They were masked, and avoided the streets under video surveillance. They knew exactly what they were doing." Thompson exposed his view.

"No they didn't." Harry said matter-of-factly. She wasn't even looking at them. She was sitting, her eyes fixed somewhere on the ground, a finger running on her lips.

Dempsey smiled, this was the Harry he knew. She must have been listening to them for a while thinking about the facts, trying to get things together. And now she had reached her conclusion and he was pretty sure that she would be right again. Thompson was looking at her nervously. After waiting a few seconds he asked with an uneasy laugh "How do you know that?"

She eventually looked up. "Well they took the wrong girl. I mean even if Jessie and…" she stopped a second, it was too hard to say Maggie's name. "...even if the girls dyed their hair a week ago, if the men had been following our daughter for a while they would have been aware of it and in any case they would have recognized her face. No, it seems to me that this was the first time they were seeing the girls."

"So how did they know your daughter was the blonde one?" Thompson felt a bit lost.

"Wasn't" Dempsey reminded him.

"Not anymore but she used to be!" he insisted.

Harry frowned slightly. "I don't know, maybe they got outdated information. If they are part of this New York group in Coltrane's league, maybe they arrived not long ago and asked questions about our children to save time." She suggested. "Think about it, Maggie spent the night by us, so even if they were ambushed to see our daughter when she got out in the morning, they would have seen Maggie and thought it was her. Then I drove the girls near Hyde Park so that they needn't take the bus. If they followed us they had no reason to doubt the blonde girl was Jessica." Harry shook her head miserably. "I should have dropped them off at the door of the college."

DS Thompson smiled sympathetically. "It wouldn't have changed anything. They would have waited for another occasion. There's no way you could have foreseen this."

James could have sworn that Harry's eyes flickered in his direction at those last words, but when he looked at her, she was staring at her cup of coffee. Was she blaming him for what had happened? He gulped but dismissed the idea straight away, he had to keep concentrate.

"I think we should start looking for that snitch whoever he was. The rats are always at the bottom of the organization; once we find him, we'll be able to go up."

Thompson nodded his approval. "Right."

"Airports check on passengers since 9.11. You should start looking for people with criminal records who flew from New York to London in the last two weeks." Dempsey added.

"I'm on it." Thompson launched his computer, happy to have finally an idea so as where to start. "If you're right, we should find something soon. If they're not careful it's only a matter of time before they do another mistake."

A matter of time… Harry checked her watch. "Nearly three." She informed her husband.

"Right, we should be going." he answered.


	13. Chapter 13

_Second of two post_

Hardly had they entered their lounge than Jessica was bouncing off the stairs, showering them with questions. "So? What took you so long? Did they find her? Do you know something? How is she?" Then she noticed her parents' sad faces and froze. She shook her head slowly, her mouth slightly opened. "No..." she murmured.

"I'm sorry." was all James could say. His throat was constricted and anyway he didn't have a clue so as what to say to make it easier.

It broke Harry's heart to see her daughter's despair welling up in her big eyes, to see the young girl's chest rising and falling rapidly with frantic breathing as horror struck her. She caught her daughter in a tight embrace, kissing her forehead and rubbing her back. Jessica felt overwhelmed and she was soon crying sorely on her mother's shoulder.

When Tommy joined them, he swallowed hard. He needn't ask for news, he understood. He met his father's eyes and both agreed silently to leave the girls alone for a while. On their way to the kitchen James poured himself a whiskey, hoping it would give him the courage for what was coming next.

...

"You're kidding right?" Tommy checked "Because this is a really bad joke."

They were all sitting in the lounge, and the teens were fixing their parents, unable or rather unwilling to believe what they had been told. Dempsey sighed. "This is serious Tom. Those guys are real; they're armed and extremely dangerous and me and your mum, we don't wanna take any risk with your safety."

"So Maggie... Maggie got killed because of me?" Jess articulated with difficulty.

"No, it wasn't because of you darling." Harry tried to soothe. She was sat next to her daughter, one arm around her shoulder. "Those people are mad, they would kill anyone to reach their goal."

"And their goal is dad, right?" Tommy had difficulty believing someone could still want to take his revenge on his father when he had left the force so long ago.

Dempsey scratched his head. "Seems so." He looked at the ceiling for a few seconds and watched his kids again. "That's why we need to be sure you're safe and we're going to take you somewhere where they won't find you."

"You're sure?" Jessica wondered.

"What about you?" Tommy asked at the same time.

"We haven't been there for years now" James decided to answer his daughter's question. "It's out of London and we figure it would be hard for anyone to see the link."

"What about you?" The boy renewed his question with a frown. He felt there was something fishy in the way his father had talked, never including them in the hideout part.

"We're staying in London." Harry announced.

Jessica shifted in her arms and looked at her disbelievingly. Thomas was astonished too. "You're kidding right?" he said for the second time.

Dempsey leaned towards them "Look we want to be sure that you're safe, and then we're going to come back here, find those bastards and make sure they won't harm anyone."

"You don't think you're taking too many chances actually looking for people who want to..." Tom stopped in mid-sentence, he couldn't say it aloud.

"No matter what we do Tommy, we'll be on the front line. Those guys... they're not giving us the choice. So I prefer to go hunting for them now and stop them than wait patiently for them to find us. At least we might have an advantage this way."

"But the police? They're looking for them, aren't they?" Jessica's voice was fearful; the shock to learn that Maggie's murder wasn't random, but planned and that the people behind it were trying to destroy her family, was almost too much to bear.

"Of course." Harry confirmed. "Our friend Chas's got several people working on the case and he's building up a team for your protection."

Thomas looked hopeful. "So you don't need to go. You can stay with us."

"No Tom." His father was adamant. "We're working on the case and that's the way it is." With that he got up and disappeared upstairs.

Harry smiled weakly. "Your father's right, we have better chances if we go looking for them. We used to be cops, you don't need to worry about us, we know what we're doing." She tapped her son's leg, kissed her daughter and stood up. "Come on, you should go pack some stuff, we're leaving in an hour."

...

Alone in their room, Dempsey walked to the cupboard and opened its door. With his hand he groped around the top shelf till his fingers stopped on a little notch he had made there, years ago. He squeezed his fingers in the little holes and pulled. A piece of wood gave way and he discarded it on the shelf. Then he grabbed an old shoe box concealed in the uncovered hole.

He went back to his bed with the box and put it on his knees. He opened it and looked inside. He swallowed hard. It seemed to belong to another life, a life he had forgotten long ago. He would never have believed that he would open this box again.

When he entered Thomas's room, the boy was piling DVDs and video games in his bag. He grinned. "You're moving?"

"Mum said she didn't know how long it would last." He shrugged.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure we come back soon." His father tried to reassure him. Thomas nodded vaguely, he still didn't seem convinced.

James walked to him, ruffled his hair and sat on the bed. Then he patted the mattress next to him; his son took the hint and sat. "Me and your mum… we know what we're doin'. We used to be great cops you know. Before you were born."

"Yeah but it was ages ago, now you're old and…"

"Old!" he raised his eyebrows as if he had been insulted. "I'll show you who's old! Tell you what, when we come back, I'll take you to the gym and I'll show an old man!"

Then James became serious again and gave the box to his son. "Here."

"What is it?" The boy asked taking off the lid as the same time. Thomas gasped when he saw the gun and looked up.

"Just in case" his father said casually, not wanting to sound like nor to think that the young boy would have to use it.

Thomas nodded gravely. He could feel the importance of the moment. James ruffled his hair with a smile. "Pack only what you really need. We leave camp in ten minutes." He got up and walked to the door.

"Where did you say we're going?"

James stopped and turned. "Your grandfather's old place."


	14. Chapter 14

When the car parked outside Winfield Hall, Harry took a deep breath. It had been such a long time since the last time she came here. She glanced at the huge mansion towering on her right and got out of the car. She knew James was observing her and she wouldn't show any sign of weakness.

In the back seat, Thomas nudged his sister. The girl had been brooding, her eyes unfocused, and she hadn't realised the car had finally parked until her brother brought her back to present. Seeing he was fixing something open-mouthed through the window she leaned to have a better view. She frowned. Where were they? They both got out of the car and stopped near their mother at the bottom of the huge staircase.

"What is this place?" asked her son, but Harry didn't answer, she didn't look at him; she knew she mustn't allow anything to distract her. She had to stay focus on her next actions. She climbed the stairs and James jerked to their kids to follow her. He was glad to see that the situation had drawn his daughter's attention and brought her out of the melancholy torpor in which she had been languishing during the journey.

Once inside, Jess and Tommy turned their head in every direction. The grandeur of the place wowed them, but the most intriguing part was that their father had told them they were to hide in their grandfather's house. Surely this couldn't be it.

"I thought..." Tommy began, but he stopped as an old man approached them. He went directly to Harry and bowed slightly. "Welcome home lady Harriet."

"Abbott" she smiled weakly. "It's good to see you again."

"Indeed, even though I would have much preferred the circumstances to be different."

Harry nodded and turned to her family. "You remember my husband James Dempsey."

"Of course" he shook James' hand with a warm smile that the American reciprocated.

"And here are our children, Jessica and Thomas."

"They're young adults now. Milord would have been so proud."

Harry's eyes got lost in the vague for a second as she felt herself transported in a whirl of painful memories, but almost immediately she forced herself to answer "Yes." Her voice was shaking. It was so strange to be back here after all those years and the current situation did nothing to lighten her mood. She inhaled a good gulp of air to steady herself. "Will you take care of the luggage please?" she was glad to hear her voice was back to normal. Inclining his head, Abbott walked past them and disappeared through the door.

"Who's this guy?" Tommy wondered aloud.

But Harry wasn't paying attention. Her eyes had found a frame put on a pedestal table in the corner. She swallowed hard and took a few steps in its direction. It was a picture of her and her father taken years ago. She felt her eyes prickling as tears threatened to flow out. She traced the line of the old man with a finger before turning her back to the picture. She was a bit taken aback to find her husband and children staring at her.

She didn't give them time to say anything, she had to keep control of the situation. She led them to the first floor and after showing them the bedrooms where Jessica and Thomas were to stay and the way intercoms worked to call the kitchen or Abbott, she took them to a small living room. There she explained that she had to check the arrangements and the luggage with Abbott and advised them to rest a bit while she did so. She left quickly without a glance towards her husband.

"Ok, so what's this place? It doesn't look like a safe-house!" Jessica asked the moment the door closed behind Harry.

"Winfield Hall." James stated. "This was your grandfather's home."

"This is not a house, this is a castle." Tommy exclaimed.

"Actually, your mother would call it a stately home." He grinned, remembering the time when they were still coming here. His children were still gaping at him, clearly waiting for a longer explanation. "Come on, you know your grandfather was a lord."

"Yeah, mum said so. She said she inherited lots of money from him." Tommy remembered the few things his mother had told him and his sister about his grandfather.

"But mum never said she used to live in a castle!" the girl complained.

James pulled a face. "She never meant to hide it from you. It's just that... it was too hard for her to talk about it." He sighed and sat on the couch with his children. "Your grandfather died abruptly when you were only a baby Jessica. He was a remarkable man, and your mother loved him a lot. His death hit her hard and after his burial, your mother refused to come back to Winfield Hall. She had already lost her mother here, and I guess the place swarmed with too many memories. I never insisted on coming back here, I thought she needed time, but years went by and it was even harder for her. Of course she could never bring herself to sell the place, she paid for it to be taken care of, but… We never came back."

"So mummy owns a castle." Tommy said slowly.

"Yeap, she's a real lady!" James grinned, he could remember the day he had learnt that she was the heiress of a castle; he had wanted to murder her so much.

"I can't believe you hid this place from me when you know how much I love old buildings. I mean, come on I'm studying architecture!" Jessica complained.

James was so glad to see that fire burn in her daughter's eyes. It had been gone since his return from New York and it felt so good to see she could still become impassioned.

"Like I said, there were too many memories for your mum, so don't be hard on her. I'm sure that in time she'll be happy to talk about old stuff with you. Restoration, knights, Mania… Magna…" he tried to remember things Harry had told him, but his mind went blank as it always did when it came to history. Seeing Jessica was immersed in her surroundings again, he gave up; he probably wouldn't have remembered anything else anyway.

"This place is incredible, look at the architecture, the tapestries, the furniture! It's wonderful." She was walking around the room, taking in every detail. She stopped to observe an old secretary.

Tommy wasn't fussed by the medieval style. "It's nothing but a bunch of old stuff to me. Unless you love the restoration style." Dempsey smiled. 'That's my son!'

"Anyone with half an eye would recognise this as Victorian!" Jessica retorted with a haughty look that only her mother mastered better. James' smile was broadening at the thought when he spotted something that made him scowl.

"Yeah and any policeman with twenty-twenty vision might see this as a cell phone" Dempsey grumbled, leaning to grab the incriminated object from his daughter's pocket. "Come on Jessie, we said no phones and first thing you do, you steal mine!"

"Mine is dead." She sulked. "Anyway I was just about to give it back to you." She lied.

"I'm sure!" he said dubiously.

"Oh and stop this police thing! I'm your daughter not a criminal!"

"It's for your own safety Jess!"

"My safety!" She shook her head "And what about Maggie's safety? Did you do something about that! D'you think locking us up in the middle of nowhere with no phone will make any difference! You think it will bring back my best friend! Or my life! I don't want to be here, I didn't ask for any of this, I didn't ask to have parents who run out in the streets and risk their life when it's the police's duty! Your duty is to stay here with us!" She bellowed, turned round and slammed the door behind her.

Wow, she had her mother's fiery temper when she was crossed. But Dempsey couldn't really blame her; it was no easy situation. He only hoped she wouldn't do anything stupid. "You'll keep an eye on her, ok?" he checked.

"Sure." The boy accepted half-heartedly.


	15. Chapter 15

Suddenly the door opened with force again. James thought for a second that Jessica was back to yell a bit more but instead of his daughter he saw his wife advancing on him with a deadly look on her face. She was holding an old cardboard box in her hand.

"What is it doing here?" Her voice was stern, her face was set.

Dempsey ran a hand in his hair. He had recognised the box the instant he saw it. The problem was that he hadn't planned for Harry to find the gun and didn't know what to tell her. But before he could think of anything she was talking again.

"Are you deaf? Or maybe you're crazy? Chas told you we had no right to carry a gun! You're not a cop anymore!"

James felt relieved. So that was what was nagging her! "Don't worry, I'm not taking it. It's staying here."

"Here?" Harry didn't understand. "Whatever for?"

"I gave it to Tommy." He explained casually.

"To Tommy?" Her eyebrows disappeared behind her hair as incredulity mounted in her. "_Our_ Tommy?" She had a little nervous laugh. "This is worse than I thought. You're not crazy, you're insane!"

"Look we don't know what's going to happen, it could come in useful!"

"Useful! My son is only 17, it's still a little boy and you…"

"Come on" he interjected "He's gonna be 18 soon, he's old enough to…"

"Old enough for what?" she interrupted him, frowning "Old enough to use a gun, to kill a man! Wake up James! He wouldn't even know how to use it!"

James made a derisive noise. "Do you really think I would give him my gun if he wasn't able to handle it! I'm not stupid!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" She was frowning even more.

James was a bit annoyed, but he answered unfazed. "I took him to the shooting range once or twice."

"Once or twice!" she repeated doubtfully "and you never bothered to ask me 'once or twice' what I thought about it, never wondered if I would agree."

"You mean I need your permission to do something with my son?"

"If you are to do such stupid things, then maybe yes, it would be a good idea."

Dempsey took a deep breath. "Look, he wanted to learn."

"He wanted to learn, or you wanted to teach" her retort cracked through the air like a whip.

They were glaring at each other now, neither of them wanting to give in. Their eyes were cold, their jaws were set, James' fists were clenched. Tommy was watching his parents apprehensively, unable to decide if he should go or stay, talk or remain silent. He feared he might ignite the sparkle that would make the whole situation explode.

Suddenly, after nearly half a minute that seemed to last an eternity, Harry threw the box on a nearby table without breaking eye contact. Her voice was just as cold as her eyes when she spoke. "Be sure that we'll talk about it later." She then turned to her son who swallowed hard "I forbid you to touch this." And she was gone.

Dempsey's face took a few seconds to relax, then he breathed deeply and picked up the box. He handed it to his son. "Take this back to your room and make sure your mum doesn't see it."

Tommy opened his mouth but his father silenced him with a hand. "She'll see sense."

"You're sure?" Tommy doubted. He had rarely seen his mum in such a cold fury, but more than fearing to disobey her when she was that crossed, he was even more afraid to do something that would make his parents tear each other apart.

Dempsey smiled. "Don't worry. And anyway, you won't have to use it. I just feel safer knowing you've got it."

Thomas nodded but wasn't convinced. He had felt honoured to see his father trusted him with his gun, even if he had been a little scared of such a responsibility. But at that time, he had thought like his father that the gun made him safer; just in case. Now however, his mother's words were reverberating through his mind 'old enough to use a gun' Why not? He had loved going to the firing range with his father and shared special moments with him when he explained how to aim accurately and things like that. 'Old enough to kill a man' Definitively not! Thomas even wondered if you could be old enough to kill someone, it didn't seem to him you could be of age to do such a thing; but having a gun to protect yourself meant using it, his mother was right. The recent fight of his parents didn't make anything easier and even if he had thought he couldn't be more confused when they had left their home to go on a hideout some hours ago, he definitively was more distressed than ever now. He needed to be alone to see things through.

He gave a weak smile to his father "I'm going to settle in my room."

Dempsey nodded. He too needed some solitude to sort his feelings. He knew that he had a job to do, and getting lost in bad feelings was never a good thing before starting an enquiry. Especially when you were bound to be emotionally involved with the said enquiry.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry and James were both double-checking the plans of the property with one of the man from the surveillance team that would be stationed outside the building to check that no one would trespass on the premises. Each was standing at one side of the table, not looking at the other, talking only to the surveillance guy. Once they had finished, the officer left the room, too happy to escape the icy atmosphere. As the door was starting to close behind him, Harry made a sudden movement to leave as well, casting a quick glance towards Dempsey. He was about to call her back when the door opened wide and a black man entered the room.

Harry gasped, it had been years since she had last seen this man. "Watson?"

Dempsey grinned, recognizing his former colleague. The man smiled back as Dempsey walked to him and clapped him on the back "Hey, it's been a long time!"

"Dempsey, Makepeace. It's good to see you again."

"Well she's a Dempsey too now." Dempsey reminded him and Watson smiled "Right!"

Harry ignored James' comment pointedly and shook Watson's hand. "What are you doing here?"

"Chas phoned me earlier in the afternoon and he told me about this... case. I'm not working in his service anymore, I got detached to SO15, the anti-terrorist branch, some ten years ago but I've got days-off to take and... I thought I could be useful on this one. I volunteered to supervise the protection of your children."

The couple was a bit stunned by the news. They certainly weren't expecting this. Watson was unnerved by their lack of reaction. "That is if you agree of course."

"Of course, yes" answered Harry, catching one of his hands between hers and shaking it. "Thank you so much"

"Yeah that's just great dude" Dempsey added. "I'll be reassured to know that _you_ are watching over them rather than this bunch of young idiots playing on their phones out there." He jabbed his thumb towards the window.

Watson smiled; he had indeed met a young officer playing on his iPhone on his way in. "That's what friends are for. Don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye on everything. And everyone." He assured them then moved towards the stretched plan on the table. "That's it?"

"Yes." Harry joined him at the table and soon the three of them were making sure it was an effective plan.

An hour later, James and Harriet were both really happy their former colleague had joined them here. He spotted some shortcomings and advised a few changes in the position of some watchmen. It was clear that Watson knew what he was talking about. He had definitively gained a lot of experience and self-confidence in the last twenty years and his time in the SO15 had certainly given him a first-class knowledge of leading a team on such occasions.

"I'm really glad you're here mate!" Dempsey said truthfully. Watson's arrival was one of the few things that had happened in the last two days over which he could rejoice. It may even be the only good thing actually.

"Maybe we should introduce you to Jess and Tom." Harry offered. "I believe you haven't seen them since they were babies."

"Yeah, I think so. The little girl had pigtails and the other one was still wearing diapers." Watson smiled remembering meeting the couple a few years after their wedding one afternoon in the park. Their ways had parted once James and Harry had stopped working for the police and they had never really kept in touch, but despite all the years he was determined to help them out of this tricky spot.

"I think they're in their room I can go and tell them..." James began.

"No, not now, if you don't mind I'd prefer to have a tour first. You know, see the different places, check with the guys, stuff like that." Watson was very professional; the plan had to be flawless.

"Ok, ok, we'll leave you a while then. Anyway, Harry and I need to talk." James announced and to make sure she wouldn't wriggle her way out of it he grabbed her arm. She frowned but he didn't pay any attention to it and led her out of the room.


	17. Chapter 17

They arrived in Harry's old bedroom. She stopped on the threshold taking in every detail. She sighed, entering further. The difficulties at being back here had worn off a bit.

"Nothing changed. Everything's just the way it was on our last visit." She remarked, running a finger on the commode.

"Why should it be different?"

She shook her head but didn't say anything. She sat on the bed. "So? What is it all about?"

"You know."

"No I don't."

Dempsey clicked his tongue impatiently. She wouldn't make it easy. "Is this how it's gonna be now?"

She frowned questioningly "Either you explain or I..."

"Between us." He said quickly before he lost the courage to go any further. "Is this how it's gonna between us now?"

"I don't know what you mean." She kept avoiding his gaze.

"You're putting distance between us." He was kneeling in front of her now, trying to do eye contact, their eyes met for a second before she turned her head to the right. He put his hand on the one that was resting on her knees. "You keep avoiding my eyes... my touch." He finished as she withdrew her hand.

"At least I wasn't the one avoiding the truth." She snapped.

"Why? You think I'm turning a blind eye on the situation."

"Don't be obtuse, you know what I mean."

"Are we talking about the gun?"

"The gun? The fact's that you knew there might be something going on with Coltrane but you didn't tell me. The fact's that I asked you why you came back earlier from New York but you lied me. The fact's that..." her voice was getting louder as the anger and frustration mounted in her "You taught my boy how to shoot without even telling me about it, you hid me the truth and yes, yes we are talking about this damned gun! You brought it here and obviously you had no intention to tell me anything about it. I had to discover the truth just like with Coltrane."

James was glad she was letting it all out now. It was never good when she kept everything inside, boiling on the surface. If there was to be an explosion, it had to happen now, before they went on the street.

"Give me one, half a decent reason why I should trust you again." She demanded.

Her question hurt him slightly, but he knew, or at least hoped, that most of it was the result of the stress of the last days. "Try concern... Come on Harry!" he tried to explain "When I came back from New York you were all affected by Maggie's kidnapping and this picture was 20 years old, there was no reason for me to bother you with it."

She thought about it a moment, pretending to observe the pattern on the bed cover to avoid meeting his eyes. "Maybe." She conceded eventually, then she looked up. "But what about the gun? There was no reason to tell me about it either?"

"Ok, maybe I should have told you, but..." He shook his head. "I knew you wouldn't like the idea and I understand. But I need to know that if I leave my kids they'll be able to protect themselves while I'm away. I'm not leaving them unprotected."

"They're not unprotected. There are men all around the property and Watson's here."

"I know, but I feel better this way." I looked at her straight in the eyes and saw that she understood what he meant even she didn't approve of it. "As for the shooting range... Like I said, Tom wanted to learn and I appreciated the time we spent there. Between men. It was great to teach him something, it was... our thing. Maybe I was a bit selfish but I never meant to lie or hide it from you."

"The result was still the same."

"What d'you want me to do about it? It's done." He said, flinging his arms up in exasperation. "So now, either you accept it or you don't."

"You disappointed me James, it's going to take time for me to..." She stopped. Was she going to say it would take time to trust him again? Could this unfailing trust that had taken them through all ordeals for 25 years, vanish in the air like that? It was hard for her to explain what she was feeling, because she didn't even know for sure what she felt. He hid things from her, but he never meant any harm. However in those troubled times she would have wanted this trust to be a rock onto which she could have hold on without the flick of a doubt. It proved she couldn't. Or could she? Everything was confused in her head. She looked at her husband, he was waiting with baited breath. She sighed. "It's going to take time."

She rose and went to the door. As she was turning the doorknob he murmured: "I miss you."

"I miss us." She answered and left.


	18. Chapter 18

The next morning, the family was gathered in the entrance hall, James and Harry were about to leave Winfield Hall. Watson was leaning on a wall in a corner. He didn't want to intrude on their privacy, but still didn't want to give the teens any chance to give him the slip, so he was watching their farewell from a distance.

Dempsey kissed them both and stepped backwards, grabbing his bag. "I already told you not to worry! It's gonna be alright, we'll be back in no time." He tried to cheer them up.

Thomas was silently hugging his mother. He wondered if his parents had talked this gun thing through yet, but didn't dare to bring back the subject. He was worried and drained, and glancing at his sister he saw she had to be feeling just the same, if not worst. After all, Maggie had been her best friend.

Harry was doing everything she could to be strong and not to show any sign of weakness, but it was harder than she would have thought to leave them behind. She hugged them together.

"I love you." She said kissing them.

"I love you too mummy. I love you..." Jessica sobbed over and over again. Thomas had a big lump in his throat, he wouldn't have been able to utter a single word.

Dempsey observed his wife kissing their children's forehead for the umpteenth time with a frown, they seemed to never want to let go.

"Come on, let's go!" Dempsey urged. They should already be gone. She was making it worse by lengthening the good-byes. He put an arm around her waist to direct her out of the room and waved cheerfully as he closed the door behind them. Watson gave him a quick nod; that was all Dempsey needed. From now on, his kids were in safety and he wouldn't think about it.

"Don't look back." He advised his wife as they descended the front stairs. When they reached the bottom, he let go of her and they entered the car.

"You know you can still change your mind." He glanced in her direction. She was rubbing the corner of her eyes, fighting back the tears. "You can stay here if you want."

She turned to face him. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears but her voice was resolute. "No, I've made a decision, I'm coming with you. It's just hard to leave them when they're so scared. But you can start the car, I am coming."

He observed her a few more seconds, just to make sure she really meant it and when he was satisfied, he turned the key. "Let's go then."

...

They drove in silence all the way back to London, both lost in their own thoughts. Chas had insisted on a car to follow them, even if they were sure nobody had tailed them to Winfield hall. It was mid-morning as they reached London.

The agitation and noise of the SI10 brought them back to reality and they settled at a desk to look through the clues with Thompson. He was a good officer with great perspicacity, but Dempsey thought he would never be as shrewd as Harry. No matter what were their difficulties, he was glad to have her by his side. Fry arrived with some documents for Thompson and sat with them. The sergeant filled them in about the last developments.

"The lab ran more specific tests on the newspaper cuttings note but they didn't found anything relevant. No prints, no DNA trace, no textile fibre, nothing. The photo has most likely been printed with a personal laser printer. So it's leading us nowhere." He paused, feeling he had to find something positive to say. "But the scientific team is currently studying it again. They've scanned the picture and enhanced its quality on computer." he explained. "Maybe they'll be able to find something, a clue as to where the shot was taken or anything…"

Harry nodded sympathetically. She knew he was doing the best he could. Dempsey was running a hand through his hair.

"Right, so you continue to check names connected to Coltrane or even Mara Giardino, old friends, accomplices, neighbours, everyone!" He was taking things in his hands without realizing it, but after all a leopard cannot change its spots. "What about the people who visited him when he was in prison? You found anyone suspect?"

"I called the prison yesterday, but it seems the visitors weren't listed on computer at the time. They said it would take them time to send us the list." Thompson snorted, shaking his head.

"Take time? They think we can wait till next week maybe!"

"Look I did what I could but they..." Thompson stopped as Dempsey stood up unexpectedly, grumbling. He picked up a phone and dialled a number. Thompson looked at Harry enquiringly but she merely shrugged. Dempsey was already talking "Tony? Dempsey here. Listen, I need you to do me a favour..."

Ten minutes later, Dempsey sat back "He's going to send us the list in the afternoon."

"Good." Thompson was a bit bothered that it was Dempsey making progress for the case. After all _he_ was in charge of the enquiry and felt that _he_ should be the one doing progress. True, Dempsey had the advantage of knowing people related to the case being personally involved, but it was frustrating to see him doing what was supposed to be his job. To cap it all, Superintendant Jarvis had said that in his time the 'lieutenant Dempsey' used to be one of the best cop he ever worked with, and DS Thompson felt like he had to prove he came up to scratch.

Ten minutes later, the sergeant declared he was off to check a list of men who used to be related to Coltrane, feeling that at least, he would be the only one in control of the case once he would be far from the Dempseys.


	19. Chapter 19

They read files and checked names all morning, but didn't find any good lead. Harry could see James fidgeting on his chair out of the corner of her eye. He had never been keen on desk work and he was tapping nervously with a pen on the desk. She was starting to find the noise quite aggravating. Whether he felt her gaze on the pen or not, he suddenly stopped and threw the pen back in its holder. She quickly immerged herself in the reading of a file as he turned to face her.

"Found anything yet?"

She looked up as if surprised by his interruption and glanced at her file again. "No. You?"

He grimaced and looked away. "I feel like we're wasting our time here. The answers won't come out of old records."

"There's always been fifty percent of desk work in this job." She retorted.

"Yeah well, I've always been better with the leg work."

She was about to make a snide comment about this when Fry entered the office laden with sandwiches and beer cans. Tripping over something he lost his balance and sent everything in the air. Apparently he was still as clumsy as ever as the lads just laughed and picked up the food making a few jokes as if this was a regular habit.

Recovering from his fall, Fry came to their level with two cellophane-wrapped sandwiches, smiling stupidly.

"I'm back with food supplies." He announced proudly. It seemed he had intended to say this at his arrival, but his fall had crushed his plans.

Dempsey stared at him. "Me and Harry are going on the field." Fry gaped at him as if Dempsey had talked in a foreign language, so he added. "We're gonna find someone who knows what's going on!"

"What, now?" Fry asked, casting a disappointed glance to his sandwiches.

"No next week!" Dempsey mocked. "Of course now Fry! What do you think? We don't have a minute to waste!" With that he grabbed his jacket and left the room. Harry caught up with him in the stairs. "Improved a lot lately, did he?" he snorted, remembering Chas' words. Harry shrugged noncommittally and didn't answer.

...

They had been strolling down London's streets for nearly three hours now, and Harry's stomach was grumbling hungrily. With a fresh rumble she remembered Fry's sandwiches and wished she had grabbed one before following the bad-tempered American walking next to her. He was still that brash, insensitive, uncommunicative yank that had once landed unwillingly in her life and she wondered how she could have ever thought he could change.

She hadn't swallowed a thing since the brief breakfast this morning before leaving Winfield Hall and the day proved to be long and gruelling. As James turned in a sideway street unexpectedly she stopped.

"Ok, I've had enough! What are we exactly doing here?"

Dempsey was a bit taken aback. "Looking for clues." He said slowly. Wasn't it evident?

She crossed her arms and tilted her head slightly to the right. "Oh, and you think clues are going to jump at us at the corner of a street or do you intend to actually _do_ something to find them?"

Dempsey frowned. Did she really think she was helping with her smart comment? He raised his hand, one finger pointing at her and opened his mouth but before anything came out he realised fighting wouldn't help them. He let his arm fall back and shook his head. He sighed. "I used to know guys in the neighbourhood. You know finks, guys who always knew what was going on. Seems they moved and forgot to send up address cards."

Despite herself, Harry's expression softened a bit. "Maybe we could ask Thompson for names. Or Chas?"

"Maybe. I don't know." He grouched looking in the distance.

She shook her head. He always hated to admit he needed somebody's help. Since they had met, he had done it only twice. The first time was when a cop had tried to bring him down, and the second when she had resigned from the force; and both times he had come to her. The memory made her smile.

Suddenly she felt his arm on her shoulders and he started walking again taking her with him.

She groaned. "My feet are killing me. Is there really any use to keep on walking?"

"Yep sure." He announced happily and glanced her sideways to see her bemused expression. He grinned. "I spotted a guy on that street, selling hot-dogs. You can't work on an empty stomach, it ain't good."

"Hot-dogs? I'm not sure I'm that hungry." She complained, but there was a hint of laugh in her voice.

As they walked, his arm around her shoulders and her arm around his waist, Harry couldn't help smiling happily. He was still bad at expressing his feelings, but it didn't prevent him from being attentive and caring, he was still able to read her and to make her smile and she wondered how she could have ever thought he could have changed.


	20. Chapter 20

When they went back to SI10 in the late afternoon, Thompson was busy checking names on the prison visiting list Tony had sent from New York. He was comparing names with the airport passengers record, but so far the tedious job had led to no result.

An hour later, Chas Jarvis came into the office with a dossier. He clapped it on his hand. "I've got news from the lab."

He obtained rapt attention from all of them immediately. "So they've run new tests to see if they could find hints by enhancing the quality of the image and apparently there were reflections and other hints. I'll spare you the details but they were able to deduce the approximate area where the shot had been taken."

"So you know where it is?" James was eager to know.

"We've got a pretty good idea." Chas confirmed. He spread a map over the desk where a large circle had been drawn. "It's probably a garage located around here. I'm sending a team there to check addresses." He silenced Dempsey with a raised hand and looked at him straight in the eyes. "I don't want to see you in the neighbourhood. Is that clear?"

"What! You kidding! I wanna go!" James was furious and even though Harry would have wanted to go too, James' reaction made her think that Chas was maybe right to keep them away from it.

"Look, I'm trusting you with this case, I tell you things as they come up, don't make me regret it or I'll have to take back that clearance."

James watched him with disgust, even contempt, his fists clenched; Chas knew he had to make his point now or he would lose the control of the situation. It was a battle of will, and nearly every officer in the room was watching the two men glaring at each other. Most of them thought they wouldn't want to have the American looking at them like that, he looked murderous, but Chas didn't lower his gaze. Deep down inside, James knew Chas was right but he didn't like it. Finally, he shook his head and kicked a nearby chair, defeated.

There was a sudden intake of breath as the entire office seemed to relax. Chas leaned over the map again and showed a few specific places to Thompson. Harry stood up and joined her husband at the window where he was staring moodily the sun setting over the buildings. She put a hand on his arm and whispered: "It's better this way." She wasn't expecting him to answer and she just stayed near him while Chas was giving orders to his men.

The superintendant joined them not long after. "I don't know how long it's gonna take them. You could go to have some rest and I'll call.."

James turned to him with an unwavering look. "I'm not leaving till they've found her."

Chas nodded, he knew he would get that kind of answer. "You can wait in my office."

...

Three hours later, night had fallen on the city and Chas' office was in semi-darkness. There was nothing to hear apart from the rustling of a page as one of the two men sitting in the office turned a paper over, reading random files coming from the records to kill time. When the phone rang, Chas picked it up in a kind of frenzy. The tension had been mounting with every minute as they waited for news from the team on the field. "Yes?"

James sat straighter on his chair and Harry rubbed her eyes and raised her head, she had been drowsing on the sofa. Chas was listening attentively and taking notes. He hung up and looked up. "They've found her."

Dempsey found it strange. The news was half-comforting, half-distressing. They finally had the body to try and find clues and hints; but it also made it real, his daughter's best friend was dead. Killed by mad men coming from his past. It wasn't an easy thought to deal with.

Chas sighed "Listen, there's nothing to be done now. My guys are securing a perimeter and looking for clues around the scene, but the scientific team won't go there before tomorrow morning and then we'll have to wait for the analysis to be run. We won't have anything new before tomorrow. You should go to that flat we found you and rest a bit. There will be lots to do tomorrow."


	21. Chapter 21

When Harry woke up the following day, the sun was already casting its warm rays through the window. She observed the ceiling for a while; she wanted to enjoy a few more seconds of quiet before facing the day ahead.

She could hear water running opposite the corridor. James had to be already in the shower of the small bathroom of the apartment Chas had found them. She got up and crossed the room. She stared through the window and it wasn't long before she spotted the car watching the entry of the building. Chas hadn't left anything to chance.

She went to the kitchen and poured two mugs of black coffee. The flat was rather small but they had everything they needed. Anyway this was only a temporary situation.

...

During the morning, the evidence arrived the one after the other like little waves breaking on the shore, bringing back lots of useless gizmos with them but coming up sometimes with little treasures brightening your day.

The police had found objects and garbage which didn't really lead them anywhere. An old chewing-gum wrapper, pens, a pizza box, newspapers... But some others discoveries opened new horizons, led to questions and got them on new tracks.

Thompson, Dempsey and Harry were discussing some of them, confronting their theories.

The sergeant was scanning one of the pictures from the scene. "We found Maggie's bag. It seems the kidnappers had searched through it, its contents were scattered all over the floor of the garage." Thompson handed them the photo and paused scratching his head.

"What?" Harry enquired.

"Well I believe they've realised their mistake. They've probably found Maggie's ID in her bag so they know she wasn't your daughter."

"Likely enough." Harry agreed then frowned. "But if they knew they had the wrong girl, why kill her?"

"Good question." Thompson stood up and refilled his cup of coffee then he sat back facing Harry. "They took Maggie on Thursday morning believing she was your daughter and got her to that garage. Maybe they killed her before realising their mistake after all."

"But you said the forensics told you they didn't kill her before the end of the afternoon" Harry countered "It gives them more time than they needed to understand she was the wrong girl. I think you're right, they knew it." She glanced sideways to search for Dempsey's opinion, but he seemed to be miles away, his eyes lost in his coffee.

"Maybe they wanted to prove they were serious." Thompson suggested.

"Well, they've made their point. Whether they knew it or not." Dempsey stood up and walked across the office. He took some papers from a shelf to give an impression of composure, but Harry knew he wasn't really watching them. She wondered if she should go and tell him to give up the case but Fry came in at that point and handed Thompson a folder.

"Preliminary report of the autopsy." He announced.

James came back and sat down, straddling the chair, his arms leaning on its back. "So?" His foot was jerking nervously. Harry knew he was refraining himself from snatching the paper from the officer.

Thompson scanned the paper quickly. "Ok so, they confirm the death was caused by a haemorrhage of the aorta. The cut was made with a small blade, probably a knife or a dagger. Fingerprints are only partial so it's going to take time to use them." He looked up.

"What? That's it?" Dempsey was dumbfounded "You got nothing more?"

"Not yet." Thompson was a bit baffled by his aggressive reaction. "The lab will send us results as soon as they got it. They're bound to find something in the fingerprints or the DNA tests."

"So what? You wanna wait till you got the results. What if there's nothing hm!" Dempsey couldn't stand the stillness; he had to do something he couldn't wait like that. He shook his head and started pacing again.

Harry ran a finger on her lips, thinking. She wanted to do more too. Then she remembered something. "You said you found a pizza box in the garage."

"Yes." Thompson couldn't see where this was going. He had already told them the fingerprints on the box were useless. "So what? They got hungry at some point and ordered a pizza."

"Precisely!"

"Harry, you're a genius." Dempsey started looking through the pictures. Then he stopped on one shot and clapped it on his hand, triumphant. "Here" he handed it to Harry.

The pizza box was lying in the corner of the dingy garage, the name of the company was visible on the lid. Harry smiled; Dempsey was already turning the pages of the phone box, then he tore away one of the pages and declared "I got the address."

"Where are you going?" Thompson was observing them with big eyes.

"I'm going to order a pizza." Dempsey answered brightly and without further ado he left the office.

"If we can find the delivery boy, maybe he will be able to give us a description." Harry explained before following the American.

...

"You sure didn't lose it Harry." He greeted her when she sat on the passenger's seat.

She smiled as he started the engine. They drove in silence for five minutes then Harry blurted out "So tell me! Who are you?"

"What?" he frowned totally nonplussed.

"Well we're going on the field again so tell me who you're gonna be this time. Sam Johnson, Dwayne Dupré…" she surmised, avoiding sensibly Johnny Lupino "or Danny Sapalutro maybe?".

"Salaputro!" he corrected with a grin. They shared a look of complicity for the first time since he had come back from his visit to New York. It felt good to be back on the same wavelength and he ran the back of his hand on her cheek before focusing on the road again.

"So?" she renewed her question.

"James Dempsey." He declared.

She frowned. "You don't want…"

"What's the use? The guys know we're looking for them! No matter what names we use, once they know it was a yank and a sexy blonde, they'll know it was us!"


	22. Chapter 22

The door of the SI10 office banged open and James Dempsey entered with a big smug smile on his face. He walked across the room to Thompson's desk. "We got a description of the guy who paid for the pizza."

"Really?" Thompson couldn't help being impressed. He hadn't thought about the pizzeria as a possible lead. After all, the couple might prove to be more effective than intruding. Thompson felt better-disposed towards them.

"The delivery boy is making up a Photofit picture." Harry informed him.

"Great, maybe the face will lead us to a name!" he gestured them to sit.

"Yeah" Dempsey agreed hopefully, but his face had become suddenly darker again. When they had been outside getting information he had seemed to relax, but now he was back to this morose state, getting lost in his own thoughts every now and then. Harry frowned, his changes of mood were starting to worry her slightly but they had a job to do so she focused on Thompson instead.

"What about you? Anything new?" She queried.

"I asked for a few names to be checked; you know, people who visited Coltrane when he was in jail but I can't be sure of anything yet, maybe they're just old friends. But I've got good news! We found a knife in a bin near the garage, it could be the murder weapon. It was sent straight away to the lab to check if it's a match or not."

"Great. When will we know for sure?" Harry could see a faint light of hope in this. Maybe it would help them to discover something. Anything.

The sergeant looked at his watch. "I called the scientific team an hour ago, they were about to finish the autopsy and other exams, maybe they'll be done with the knife too." He said hopefully. "In fact, I was thinking I might pay them a little visit. You know, listen to what they've found for myself rather than read the report." He paused. "You wanna come with me?"

James was already up but Harry glanced at Chas' door with hesitation. He had gotten them a clearance so that they could investigate and be present here in the Met, but there were still limits not to cross, like with the garage. After all, they were only civilians now. Dempsey saw her waver and exclaimed. "How does he want us to solve this case if we can't go anywhere!"

Thompson watched them, then his boss' office, and back to the couple again. The American seemed eager to go but his involvement in the case was sometimes so strong that the sergeant thought it could be dangerous. His wife, on the other hand, was more reasonable, sensible, dealing with the facts but she didn't seem to be keen on being back here. Maybe they shouldn't come after all. But then, Thompson understood what they felt at the moment; if he was in their shoes he would want to be part of it no matter how hard it would be. And anyway the ex-lieutenant was right, they had to be part of the enquiry to come up with something, and their recent idea for the pizzeria proved they could be useful. He addressed Harry. "Yes, come with me, I'm sure Jarvis would agree."

Harry nodded slowly and stood up. Yes, maybe Chas would agree, but she would have given anything not to go there. She feared to see Maggie's body, the mere idea made her feel sick as memories of the picture Chas had showed them two days ago flashed back in her mind. Years ago, when she had to face barbaric murders she never felt at ease, but now that she was well off this job and mother of two children, she felt it was even harder to bear.


	23. Chapter 23

The atmosphere of the laboratory was cold and sterile. There were scientific cops walking here and there, exchanging papers and data, comparing their analysis and tapping on computers, but even their never-ending motion couldn't alter the feeling of uneasiness Harry felt, being here.

Thompson knew the people in charge of the case. 'Of course', Dempsey thought, 'nowadays SI10 is bound to work with scientific teams all the time, even if back in our days the resort to such methods were rare and often fruitless'. He really hoped that progress and technology would prove to be a real improvement.

The sergeant introduced them to Katie Sullivan who started explaining the progress they had made. She was a young woman with dark hair, cool and professional in her speech, dealing with facts and evidence in a skilled manner.

"Ok, so we've completed the victim's autopsy and we concluded her death was caused by severing of the aorta. The knife found near the crime scene is the exact same shape and length than the murder weapon and even if it had been wiped off we were still able to find traces of blood on the blade." She grabbed a plastic bag holding the knife and handed it to Thompson. "This is your murder weapon. Unfortunately, this is a standard knife which you can find anywhere, it won't help you much."

"Ok, what else?"

"We've found skin bits under her nails; she probably tried to fight them off." She offered as an explanation. "We couldn't find anything else which could help us build a profile. We'll need time to run the full tests. So far, the only info resulting is that the DNA belongs to a male; we also found light brown and dark hair that didn't belong to the victim. I can't tell you more, but we'll be able to compare the DNA we found with the DNA of your suspect."

"If we ever find one." Dempsey grumbled.

Sullivan raised her eyebrows at his grumpy interruption but continued. "Fingerprints now. The ones we found in the garage were only partial that's why we couldn't give you a name right away. Of course we tried to reconstruct one from what we found on the chair, the gag or the pizza box. But it wasn't conclusive. But..." She clapped her fingers victoriously. "The man who got rid of the knife left fingerprints all over the handle. He was listed on Interpol and once we had him, we discovered he had a brother, also on Interpol, so we checked with the first series of prints we had and it's a match. I'm 95% sure that these are our two guys." She hold out two criminal records that had just been printed.

"Katie you're the best!" Thompson thanked her.

Harry took the first file and read it aloud. "Bill Thorn, American, arrested twice for minor offences in 2000, but never convicted. Nothing else up to now."

"That's the little brother, you want to check out the big bro." Sullivan advised.

Harry put the second file on top of the other. "Mike Thorn, prosecuted for drug dealing, assault with a deadly weapon and so on... Arrested after a failed stick-up, spent six years in prison, got out only a year ago. Sounds like a nice fellow."

"Looks like Mike got his little brother to play in the major league with him this time." Dempsey was reading the papers over Harry's shoulder.

"I'll leave you now, if you got other questions you know where to find me." Sullivan excused herself.

Thompson grabbed the files from Harry and scanned it. "Mike Thorn has to be behind all this. Look, he started into drug dealing business at the time you had problems with Coltrane. Then they moved to Chicago and that's where he landed in jail. But then, he was spotted back in New York after his release. It has to be him."

"No, that's not him. It's someone else." Dempsey said matter-of-factly.

"How do you know?"

"It doesn't fit." was the curt answer.

"But how do you know?" Thompson repeated. He couldn't see why his theory wouldn't hold.

Dempsey tapped his nose knowingly. "The nose knows."

Thompson looked a bit baffled, but Harry simply rolled her eyes.

...

Back at the Met, they gave the last details to Chas. The superintendant was glad of the advance of the enquiry. "Good." Then he called out to Fry. "Do you know if our friend from the pizzeria is still here?"

Fry grabbed a phone, eager to do something. "He's still here." He announced brightly, hanging up, then he opened his mouth slightly as if he just had the most brilliant idea ever. "Hey! You could go and show him the pictures. See if he recognises one of them!"

Dempsey clapped his fingers. "You know something." He mocked. "That's a good idea."

As Thompson and the Dempseys left the office, Fry turned to Chas Jarvis. "Was that a compliment?"

The superintendant grimaced. "Not yet."

...

The delivery boy was fidgeting nervously on his chair in the interrogating room.

"How long is it going to take? Because I'm supposed to be back at the pizzeria in twenty minutes; I don't wanna lose my job!"

"It won't be long sir." Thompson apologised. He handed him the pictures of the two suspects. "Do you recognise any of these men?"

After a quick glance, he shook his head. "No. Can I go now?"

"What d'you mean 'no'?" Dempsey took a step in the direction of the man who recoiled. Harry put a hand on her husband's arm and he retreated slightly.

"Watch them closely. One of them must be the man you delivered the pizza to." Thompson insisted.

Sighing, he did what he was told, but his answer remained the same. "No I've never seen those guys. I already described the man from the garage, isn't it enough?"

Thompson scratched his head, frowning. "It's not logical."

"Maybe there was a third man." Harry suggested. "Do you remember anything about that man?"

"I already told you everything I remember." The delivery man was annoyed but felt he would leave faster if he cooperated. "I went there and I heard someone yelling out inside. But I rang all the same and that guy opened the door. He took the pizza box and fumbled through the bills, like he wasn't use to pounds. Mind you, he did ask for the change! Skinflint!"

"So nothing else?" Thompson checked.

"No." Then he looked up. "Wait, there was something fishy. Well maybe not fishy but I thought it was strange. The guy was wearing gloves. Big leather gloves, like a biker."

"Really?" Harry's eyes widened and meeting Dempsey's, she knew he had deduced the same. There really had been a third guy. But this one had been sensible enough to wear gloves and not leave any fingerprints.

"So that's our guy! Leather glove is our brain!" Dempsey declared as they left the interrogating room. "Didn't I tell you those thugs weren't at the centre of it."

"Well don't you tap your nose at me again!" Harry warned with a smile.


	24. Chapter 24

Harry bite hungrily a piece of a sandwich Fry had just brought back for lunch even if it was well after 2. She pored over the papers on the desk, still focused on the job. She was reading the Thorn brothers files again, hoping to see something, a connection between them and Coltrane, or between them and one of the passengers with criminal records.

On her right, Dempsey was slumped in his chair, his left hand holding his head while his right hand was picking up a coin on the desk for the umpteenth time of the day. He put it back on its edge and gave it a quick twirl so that the coin started spinning furiously on itself with a low ruffling noise. Then the coin lost speed and stopped on the surface of the desk with much clatter. Once it was motionless, James picked it up, only to do it all over again.

Harry was used to his irritating behaviour and did nothing more than glancing at him, but the American was far away, lost in his childish game. He was clearly upset to be grounded in the office while Thompson was fishing for clues outside. A few of the officers seemed irritated by the recurrent noise, but none of them dared say anything.

When the door opened, he glanced sideways and sat upright recognising Thompson. The coin fell on the floor with a rattling noise but nobody bothered to retrieve it.

"So?"

Thompson grabbed a sandwich and fell in his chair, smiling. "My 'friend' Gary told me that two Americans arrived about a week ago. Brothers. They're working for another American but nobody knows who he is."

"So what's new?"

Thompson grinned. "You remember we thought they had to ask questions about your children, well Gary didn't want to talk about those Americans for long but he gave me the name of a little con who tipped off two Americans for a big bag of money some days ago."

"Yeah?" Dempsey didn't dare to set his hopes too high, but he couldn't help feeling hopeful; they might have a way to find those bastards.

"The name's Lucky Willy. I know him, he's a small criminal. Shoplifting, con game, some illegal bets, anything that can bring him some money, but nothing very serious. I know the pubs where he usually hangs out."

"Pubs." The American repeated. "You're sure you're gonna find him in his usual pub?"

"Sure, the man's got his own little routine. Plus, it's been a few days now, he's not expecting us anymore."

Dempsey squashed his mouth doubtfully but nodded. He got up, retrieved his coin on the ground and started twirling it again. Harry frowned, she was surprised he hadn't asked to go looking for this Lucky Willy. She watched him more closely and saw that his eyes were half-opened, half-closed, as if he was thinking hard about something. But since the beginning of this enquiry, she had had problems to know how he was feeling, at first because she hadn't paid any attention, being too furious and distressed herself, and now because he kept changing like a lunatic, being focused on the job one minute and lost in his own thoughts the next. Being unable to say if he was brooding or building up his own theory, she devoted herself once more to the list of names in front of her.

...

Harry drew her jacket tighter around her as she walked side to side with her husband. The night was falling rapidly over the city with a slight breeze and when she had gotten up this morning she hadn't planned to be strolling down one of the most disreputable streets of London. "Remind me what we're doing here."

"Thompson's friend said the Thorn brothers had their information from this Lucky Willy, right? So if we find him, he may know where we can find the brothers."

"Yes, I know that, but Thompson's already looking for Lucky Willy." She paused but had no reaction except for a snort. "Well at least Thompson is looking for him in the right part of the city. You read the file, this isn't Lucky Willy's neighbourhood!"

Dempsey smirked. "Lucky Willy ain't in his neighbourhood at the moment."

"Why wouldn't he be?"

"He's just fed bad information to a mad guy, a murderer. Believe me he's not sitting on his butt, waiting for that guy to find him."

Harry frowned slightly. Maybe he was right. "But you're still not telling me why we're here."

"We're here because I did read his file and Willy's got a little sister."

"And you think you can learn something from her?"

Dempsey stopped and looked at her, grinning impishly for some reason. "Who knows?" Then he started walking again. "She's working up this street."

"This street?" Harry shuddered, looking at the dirty poorly lit street littered with garbage. It was clearly lowlife.

"Yeah, only she's far less refined than you, if you see what I mean."

Harry frowned then rolled her eyes as the penny dropped. "What are you expecting from her? Pillow talk?"

Dempsey grinned. "Come on, I think that's her." He nodded towards a girl wearing high heels, fishnet stockings, a mini skirt and a sexy red top; she was leaning under a street lamp.

"How do you know?"

"I still got friends working for vice." He simply said but his grin faded as he spotted a car braking in front of the prostitute and he started taking larger strides at once.

He slammed back the door the girl had been opening and leaned by the car window. "Sorry mate, this one's taken!" Ignoring the insults the man in the car was yelling at him, he turned round and started walking, holding the girl's arm.

"Hey calm down! I'm coming!" She complained, then she watched him appreciatively and lowered her voice to dulcet tones. "You're quite a hunk, baby. Where do you wanna go?"

"It's up to you." Dempsey answered. "Either we go at your place to see Willy, or we can go straight at the police. What do you choose?"

The girl looked fearful for a few seconds and tried to free her arm. "Let go off me, pig!"

Harry caught up with them at that moment. "Seems like you're not going to have much fun with her after all."

...

"We're here." The prostitute sulked in front a shabby front door.

"The keys." Dempsey demanded, his hand outstretched.

Grumbling furiously, the girl leaned and pushed a flower pot behind which she usually hid her keys. She froze. "The keys aren't there."

James and Harry looked at each other. Instinctively, Dempsey raised a hand to his chest, only to remember he was unarmed. Cursing English laws, he flattened his body on the wall near the door. He gave a slight push and the door creaked ajar. "You stay with her."

Before Harry could say anything he had gone through the door and disappeared inside. There was no light on and the surrounding darkness offered him a poor vision but he knew he couldn't switch on the lights as this was his only cover being unarmed. Without his gun, he felt exposed, vulnerable, and he didn't like it.

He passed two opened doors and as he peered inside each room he couldn't keep the butterflies away, expecting to get shot any moment. But each time the room was empty. Walking silently across the corridor, he reached the last door. It was ajar. Taking a deep breath, he leaned on the wall, prickling his ear. He couldn't hear a noise inside the room.

He risked a glance but didn't see anything. Plucking up his courage, he jumped to the right, opening the door wide. His eyes travelled around the grimy bedroom, from the peeling walls to the ragged cover on the rusty bed. At the first glance this room looked empty too, but then he noticed it. A foot was protruding on the ground behind the bed.

Checking behind the cupboard door as he went, Dempsey walked round the bed. Lucky Willy was lying in a pool of his own blood, a big dark red hole in his chest. Dempsey shook his head, they had been beaten up at the little game. Whoever was pulling strings was still a step ahead of them.

"Life is hard then you die." He sighed his old motto looking at the body on the ground.

From the corner of his eye, Dempsey saw movement. A shadow had just appeared in the doorway; he turned to face his opponent, his fists raised, ready to fight, and stopped wide-eyed in front of his wife. His breathing came in rapid shallow gasps. Harry frowned, seeing his agitation.

"You fine?"

"Yeah." He said, relieved. He ran a hand in his hair. "But Willy's been better."

Harry joined him and moaned putting a hand in front of her mouth. She had lost the habit to see such things.

"Looks like Willy wasn't that lucky after all." Dempsey quipped.

His wife frowned and left the room, dialling on her cell phone. Dempsey glanced at the dead man again. He was frustrated; they wouldn't be able to question him, but at the same time, he wasn't sorry the guy'd been iced. He had sold his family after all.


	25. Chapter 25

Chas, Thompson and a team had joined them shortly after at Lucky Willy's sister's apartment. The girl had been taken to the police station for further questioning, but she kept saying her brother had only asked to sleep over for a few days without explaining anything to her.

Thompson stayed on the scene to look for potential clues while Chas gave the couple a lift to their flat. During the journey Chas insisted that the death of Lucky Willy was unfortunate, but at least proved they were on the right track. But with their only witness on his way to the morgue, Dempsey couldn't help to think that once again, their lead was cold. Dead cold.

...

James was running like mad, he had to catch up with them, he had to save her. Jessica was running ahead of him in a long dark corridor, and a man he couldn't see properly was after her. This man was laughing like a maniac, running faster and faster. James suddenly spotted a door on his daughter's left, this was their only chance! He screamed for her to hide inside and when she had, he stopped to catch up his breath only to realise that in the meantime, the mad guy had caught Tommy. This nutcase was going to kill his son if he didn't do anything, but when he starting running again, they both disappeared...

Dempsey sat up in the bed, looking wildly around him. He was drenched in sweat and his breathing was uneven. It took him a few seconds to realize that none of this had really happened, that it was nothing but a bad dream. Harry was sleeping soundly on the other side of the bed. The alarm clock on the bedside table displayed 3.14.

Ruffling his hair, he got up and fetched the bottle of whisky he had brought with him. He took a swig. It didn't do any good. He took a second swig and was tempted to take another one, but stopped, the bottle halfway to his mouth. He lowered the bottle and looked at it for a while, then he decided that drowning his sorrow wouldn't help his family and he put it back in place.

He didn't want to go back to bed, he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, so he walked to the window. It looked out on a big avenue, he stared outside at the cars passing by for a moment. He couldn't help bad memories surfacing in his mind, and images kept flashing back.

After a while he couldn't stand it anymore so he shook his head wanting to shake off the bad thoughts and went to the fridge to get a beer. He came back, sat on the window sill and opened his beer.

Harry jumped slightly in her sleep and reached out to the other side of the bed. When her hand didn't meet James' body she opened her eyes and looked around.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you." came from the left.

She screwed up her eyes and spotted him, drinking his beer. She frowned and got up. She put on her robe, grabbed a chair and sat in front of him.

"What's the problem?" She asked shrewdly.

"There's no problem. I don't feel like sleeping and I fancied a beer." He answered in a would-be casual voice.

"Why don't you tell me what's eating you?" she renewed the question.

He looked away and breathed heavily.

"I know you James" she went on "I observed you today. You were quiet, you seemed far away."

"Bullshit!"

Harry frowned. She hated it when he refused to talk. "You're not hiding something from me, are you?"

Dempsey felt uneasy; he didn't want another fight with Harry. "I was just thinking."

"Yes..." she encouraged him.

Looking nowhere but at his bottle of beer he croaked "Maggie would never have been dead if it wasn't for me."

"What's that non-sense?"

He looked up, as if he was both trying to read her mind and defying her to deny it. "You didn't seemed to believe it was non-sense" And when she looked puzzled he added "in Chas's office."

Harry frowned then she remembered. Her own voice sounded harsh in the memory _"Well you were wrong and now Maggie's dead!"_ She closed her eyes. She never wanted that.

"That's not what I meant." She could see he didn't believe her. "Okay, maybe I meant it at that point but I was furious then."

"And now?" he bore his eyes in hers.

"I don't know" she answered honestly. "I still wish you had told me things before." She sighed. "But it doesn't mean you're responsible for it. Coltrane is."

"Coltrane, again and again!" he said in a low hoarse voice. "You know it seems like it will never end…. It seems he can screw up my life even from the grave. I can almost feel him, he's there, reaching out from limbo, groping around to catch me."

He buried his face in his hands, this was getting too hard. He felt Harry's hand on his knees and looked up, her big blue eyes were shining in the pale light of the night.

He swallowed hard, there was a big lump in his throat. "You know sometimes I wonder…" his voice was cracked "maybe you, you and the kids, would be safer if you were far from me. Maybe you'd be better off without me."

He felt the exact same way than he had some twenty-five years ago after killing his partner Joey. 'You shoulda had me Joey' he had said. Well maybe it would have been better. Then he wouldn't be facing Coltrane and his wrath for the third time of his life, and Harry wouldn't be in danger. Harry would be safe.

Harry shook her head and caressed his face, forcing him to look at her straight in the eyes. "That's the most stupid thing you've ever said." She whispered. "I love you idiot." She kissed him tenderly. "and I need you, we all need you, so don't start saying stuff like that."

He put his beer on the window sill and held her tight, as if his life depended on it. Slowly a single tear ran down his cheek. She was right, he couldn't let her down when she needed him most. No matter how hard this would be, he had to pull himself together and protect his family.


	26. Chapter 26

When they arrived at the Met, they were kept abreast of the progress of the case. Just like with Maggie, there was no fingerprints to be found except for Lucky Willy's and his sister's. The gun couldn't be found anywhere, and the scientific team was currently looking for smaller clues such as hair.

Thompson was beginning to feel hopeless. He'd been up all night but came up with nothing new but a dead body. He poured his sixth cup of coffee of the morning, hoping it would clear his fogged mind. Yawning, he sat back with the couple. "Once more we have nothing. This guy leaves no traces, he's like a ghost!"

Harry's eyes flicked at Dempsey at those words. His widened motionless eyes told her he was thinking back of their conversation, but immediately he shook his head and gave her a reassuring look. "Ghost? There's no such things as ghosts Thompson. He's bound to make a mistake sooner or later, so we keep looking till we find him."

The sergeant only nodded wearily. James grabbed a pile of paper. "These are the Thorn brothers files right?"

Harry nodded with a smile, he smiled back and leaned comfortably in his chair propping his feet on the desk.

After twenty minutes, James was bored with reading and threw back the files on the desk. "I can't see anyone related to them that would make the link with Coltrane. We don't even know for sure if they were in New York when I had problems with him."

"Maybe we can't find a link because there isn't any to find." Thompson voiced what he had been considering for two days. "There's no proof that this case has something to do with Coltrane! What makes you think this is related to him anyway?"

"I'm telling you it's Coltrane. I know it."

"So we're supposed to base our entire enquiry on one of your hunches?" Thompson snorted. "What if you're wrong?"

Dempsey smiled, but there was no sympathy in his eyes. He leaned towards Thompson and said slowly. "If I say it's Coltrane, then it's Coltrane. You don't have to believe or to trust me, all you have to do is your job! Now you can do that, can't you?"

Thompson was glaring at him. It seemed he wanted nothing more than to tell the American to go to the devil. They stared at each other for a few seconds then Thompson gave in. "Sure." He answered through gritted teeth.

"Good!" Dempsey leaned back smugly in his chair and grabbed some paper. "So what do we know?"

Thompson's nostrils flared, and Harry admired his self-control as he replied professionally. She certainly wouldn't have let Dempsey talk to her like that even if he had been the boss' friend.

They went through all the people they knew the brothers had met or worked with in the last twenty years, from schoolmates to inmates and everything in between neighbours, drug dealers, ex girlfriends... But no one ever seemed to be the connection with Coltrane.

Dempsey looked up suddenly with his finger pointing straight ahead. "What about Lucky Willy? We forgot him."

"Well he's dead." Harry frowned.

"Yes, but we know he was the one who gave information to the Thorns."

"Which is why we wanted to interrogate him, but unless you know a good medium..." Thompson let the end of his sentence hang.

"Well keep your leaves inside your tea Sherlock, I got another idea." He leaned forwards looking both Harry and Thompson. "Lucky Willy was an insignificant crook, making money with con tricks. On the other hand Mike Thorn is a fiend, a bad guy dealing in drugs, weapons and things like that, but he worked exclusively inside the States. I don't think the two of them could have met on a stroke of luck when Thorn landed in Heathrow. Someone had to introduce them." Harry and Thompson didn't answer straight away, Dempsey got upset. "Am I right or am I right?"

"Relax you're right." Harry confirmed. "There has to be something there."

So they dived back into backgrounds and habits, trips and neighbourhood, looking for the link that could finally link two of their suspects. If they couldn't catch the big fish yet, better look for the small fry first and see what would happen next.

DS Thompson didn't look much convinced by this new hunch, but he still searched through the papers with them, though he didn't show any motivation doing so. He put aside another file muttering "Still nothing here" as if it had been obvious there would be nothing to find.

Dempsey looked up, upset. He opened his mouth to tell him that if he didn't want to do his job he could still be useful preparing some coffee but before he could even pronounce a word Thompson said: "Wait!"

Harry had followed the little scene and for one second she wondered if the sergeant really thought he could silence the American so easily after provoking him, but Thompson, who was looking intently at one file, slowly raised a hand and wavered one finger "I think I've got something."

"What?" Dempsey's face changed immediately from rage to interest. "What is it?" he asked getting closer.

"I'm not sure but... Look, Mike and Bill Thorn have a cousin Frank Carter. I didn't pay any attention to him before because he hasn't lived in New York for nearly 30 years so he couldn't have been the link to Coltrane, but he was prosecuted for some minor offences in Manchester and Liverpool ten years ago."

"You mean he's living in England." Harry stood up and walked to stand right behind Thompson so she could read the file over his shoulder.

"It could be our link." Thompson said.

Dempsey nodded. "Do you know where he is now?"

"No, but it won't take long." He started tapping away at his computer. He made a triumphant noise. "I got him! Seems like he's been clean for a while, keeping out of police way. Like I said he's been living in the UK, going back only occasionally to the States. We haven't got a current address, but he's supposed to be in the London area."

Dempsey snapped his finger. "A cousin! I should have thought about that. Family business! It's always family business!"

Family business... Harry's vision got blurred a second as she thought of her own family. Her husband was risking back his life in a crazy job she thought behind them and her children were in a hideout, a death threat hanging over their head. She wondered how Thomas and Jessica were at the moment, but knew she couldn't call them; it would be both too dangerous and heart-breaking. All the same she would have given anything to hug them, to kiss them...

"Don't worry I'm sure they're fine." She heard James 'voice on her left and next thing she knew, he was squeezing her hand. She looked up; he was smiling at her and in his eyes she found the strength to carry on.


	27. Chapter 27

Watson was listening to one of the watchmen report about last night stake-out at the entrance of the property. He wanted to be sure nobody was lurking around and he nodded with satisfaction at the man's words. It seemed Dempsey and Makepeace, or rather the Dempseys, had been right about this place.

The door opened slightly and Thomas' head popped inside. He froze seeing Watson was in deep conversation with a man he had never seen before.

"It's ok Thomas you can come, we've finished." The cop invited him in.

Watson smiled when Jessica followed her brother inside. The girl had been quite lonely since their arrival and he was glad to see she was joining her brother now even if you could tell her mind was elsewhere. The bruise on her face had nearly entirely disappeared, but the wound in her soul would surely take much more time to heal. The watchman left the room and the snap of the door made Jessica jump. She looked at her little brother and gave in an impatient nod as if prompting him to talk.

"So... you've got any news?" The boy asked nervously.

Watson smiled sympathetically. "Not yet, no."

Thomas heaved a deep breath and let himself fall on the sofa. Then he directed his attention back on Watson. "Four days and no news... You don't think something... something happened to them?"

"Of course not!"

"How d'you know?"

Watson took a chair and sat in front them. "Well for one thing Chas would have let us known the very instant, believe me." He looked at them straight in the eyes so that they would be left in no doubt that he was telling the truth and not some reassuring waffle for children. "And for another thing... I used to work with them long ago and I know they're up to it."

"You mean you worked with them when they were working for the force?" Even if his parents had already told him so, Thomas would have liked Watson to tell them a bit more about it.

"Indeed. They were the best cops of SI10. The dynamic duo."

"Really?" the boy asked and Jessica was listening too now.

"Sure. They solved tons of cases together... well, when they weren't having a spat."

"What do you mean?" Jessica enquired.

"Well it wasn't easy to work in the same office as your parents sometimes. But it certainly wasn't boring." He grinned.

There was a small knock and the door opened again; Abbott entered. He looked around and his eyes stopped on the teens sitting on the sofa. He seemed to breathe again. Watson smiled, the old man seemed to have taken as a personal duty to check Harry's children were safe and sound at any time of the day, always popping up unexpectedly and disappearing almost instantly when he had found the brother and the sister. Abbott found back his composure rapidly.

"I hope I'm not interrupting. I was only wondering whether you would like a light meal or anything."

Tom opened his mouth, interested; now that Watson had reassured him about his parents, he wouldn't have said no to a cake or two. But his sister was quicker. "No thank you." She dismissed him. Abbott nodded and closed the door.

Tommy watched his sister, his mouth still half opened, but she was now focused on Watson and what he might tell them about their parents' live before they got married. Like Watson, the boy was glad to see Jessica was slowly coming out of her shell, so he closed his mouth and let her talk. "So go on. Tell us about your days in SI10."

Watson smiled and made himself more comfortable. It was nice to remember his first years in the force and the 'Dempsey and Makepeace' subject was certainly one of the most interesting parts of it.

"Your parents couldn't stand each other when they started working together. Our late boss partnered them without their consent and the first months were... explosive! With time they learned to work together but they spent two years teasing each other, there was a constant banter between them in the office. One day they seemed to be best friends and the next they were suddenly on a knife's edge, always at each other's throats. It was like working in a pewter tank, you could never know when it was about to explode."

"Really?" Tommy was a bit surprised.

"How did they end up married?" Jessica wondered.

"Well teasing your mum didn't mean your father didn't care for her. It was a kind of game between them." Watson explained then he grinned "You know we used to have bets going on in the service."

"Bets?" Jessica encouraged.

"To know whether they would or wouldn't."

"Would or wouldn't what?" Tommy asked

His sister rounded on him with a disbelieving expression "How thick are you?"

The boy frowned a second, then the penny dropped. "Oh!" then he smiled stupidly. "So, did you win?"

"In fact nobody did."

"How comes?"

A shadow passed over the man's eyes as he remembered twenty years old events "Three years after your father arrived in England we had a big case. Murders linked to drug traffic, bad people. Very bad people."

"Our parents were on the case?"

"Everyone was working on this case, it was big." Watson sighed. "Well to make a long story short, we spent two months hunting them down, and in the end, three of our people were killed, including our superior Gordon Spikings. Your parents left the force shortly after. It transpired that they had been dating for quite a while already without anyone noticing it so the bets were cancelled. Anyway after Spikings' death no one really felt like claiming his winnings. It kind of lost its sense."

Jessica nodded gravely. She knew the feeling too well. Thomas glanced towards his sister and noticed the change of mood. He was desperate to find something to prevent her from sinking back in wistful sadness. "So why did they quit?"

Watson was pulled out of his souvenirs and looked Thomas intently. "I don't know. We were never that close." He declared frowning. "They were good cops. The best team. What did they tell you?"

"Not much." Thomas answered. "But to be honest, I'm not sure I ever asked them about it."

"Mum said it was a crazy job. Not compatible with a family." His sister shrugged.

"The job sure isn't very safe. I guess their relation was already far more serious than we would have thought at the time. Maybe Spikings' death hit them harder than us. They realised they had to choose between their career and a family."

"You think they regret their choice?" The boy asked in a low voice.

Watson watched them closely. "Like I told you, we've never been that close. But if what you want to know is 'do they regret the job and jumped on the occasion when this case came up', then I'm quite sure the answer is no. I can tell you they would give anything for this all thing to be over and go back to their life. Which is the reason they're doing it."

Jessie frowned. "It's a bit contradictory, isn't it?"

"Yes" the cop chuckled.

"So how come you didn't keep in touch?" Thomas queried

"Your parents left the force and..."

"Yes" Jessica interrupted "But they still have contact with Chas Jarvis."

Watson shrugged, squashing his mouth. "When they left the force they kept out of SI10 for a while, they were getting in their new life. Soon after, they announced they were getting married and invited all of us, you know SI10. It was a great party. Took place here." He looked through the window at the gardens. "Around a year or maybe a year and half later, Harry gave birth to a little girl." He looked at Jessica. "You know what happened next better than I. For my part, I left SI10 to specialise in terrorist unit and met them only once or twice. That's all I can tell you, if you want to know more you'll have to ask them when this is all over." He clapped on his knees and stood up. "Ok, I should be going. Make a tour, make sure everything's alright. Your father would kill me if he knew I'm losing my time talking like a girl!" he grinned.


	28. Chapter 28

"Alright, see you tomorrow Chas." Dempsey closed his cell phone and pocketed it. "Seems our information on little Frankie were a bit outdated."

"So they haven't found Carter either." Harry guessed.

"Nope."

"We've been looking for him for two days, you'd think we'd have come up with something now."

"Look he changed of place, of job, but we know he is in London. Maybe we'll have better luck tomorrow."

Harry nodded. "Maybe."

"Tell you what, we're gonna to the restaurant tonight."

"The restaurant? I can't see anything worth celebrating!"

"Being with you..." he surmised. "Come on, there might not be anything to celebrate, but I could do with a bit of fun. You too."

Harry gave him a little smile and followed him in the semi-darkness of dusk.

...

It was nearly midnight when they entered in their temporary home. It had been a long draining day, walking around the city, looking for someone who might know where Frank Carter was living today. And the lack of result wasn't helping to lift the mood.

Throwing her shoes in a corner, Harry entered the living room. "I want nothing more than to soak in a hot bath for hours." She moaned, rubbing the back of her neck.

James smiled and approached her from behind, starting a little massage on her shoulders. "Need some help to rub your back maybe?" He whispered in her ear.

Harry grinned and not bothering to wait for her answer, he turned her to face him and started to kiss her forehead, then her nose, sliding his arms around her slender body. It felt so good, he had been longing for this moment for days. Harry put her head on his chest, enjoying the moment.

Dempsey started caressing her hair, her shoulders and his hands stopped on her arms. He pushed her slightly to look at her straight in the eyes. Their eyes locked on each other and at last there was only love to see, the same mutual desire to be together shone out of their interlocked eyes. A genuine happy smile started growing on both faces; James approached her, his nose brushing on hers, his lips barely an inch away from hers. "I love you so much" he murmured.

He was just about to kiss his wife when someone rang at the door. He put his forehead on hers and closed his eyes in frustration. 'Damn! The timing couldn't have been worse'

Disentangling herself from his embrace Harry walked across the room and opened the door. DS Thompson gave her a weak smile. "I know it's late but... we found something and I thought you might want to hear about it."

"Sure, come in." Harry invited him. He gave her a curt nod.

"Coffee?" Dempsey offered, recovering quickly from his frustration. Thompson opened his mouth but hesitated so James added "Hey, it's free!"

The sergeant smiled. "Thanks"

Five minutes later they were all sitting on the sofa, a mug of warm coffee in their hands.

"So you found Frankie?" Dempsey asked, wondering if another of their suspect had been killed before they could ask him any questions.

"No, no." Thompson shook his head. "One of my informers told me he was working for some small restaurant but he couldn't tell me more about it. We'll have to check that tomorrow."

"So what brings you here?"

"You know we tried to dig into Coltrane's past to see if we could find names related to our case."

"I thought you didn't find anything, that it was a dead end." Having spent hours poring over lists of names herself, Harry couldn't see why he was bringing the conversation round to this subject again.

"True." The sergeant confirmed. "But in the middle of all his bribes and money from corruption, I spotted a few different transactions. Nothing related to the case it seemed but I dug a bit further. I found out that Coltrane used to give regularly nice little sums of money to one Laura Banning."

"Never heard of her." Dempsey frowned.

"She died two years ago in a dingy hospital. Cancer. So I wondered why Coltrane used to transfer money to her in the early eighties and noticed she was the single mother of Derek Banning. The transfers started a few months after his birth."

He paused a second for the information to sink in. "I checked him; regular kid, no criminal record. But the fishy part is that after Laura Banning's death we found no trace of her son. No home, no bank account, nothing. He just disappeared." He said clapping his fingers.

"So you're saying that..." Harry began, unsure of where this was leading them.

"Coltrane had a son." Dempsey finished.


	29. Chapter 29

The next morning, James and Harry were sitting in SI10, listening to DS Thompson.

"I checked back with the airport. Derek Coltrane was on a plane ten days ago, only he was registered as Derek Banning and as he had no criminal record, his presence passed unnoticed." Thompson informed them. "I compared his picture with the delivery boy's description and that's him. I don't know exactly when or how he met the Thorn brothers but it doesn't really matter. Everything fits."

Superintendant Chas Jarvis came out of his office and joined them around the table. He had some papers in his hands and a confident expression. "New York just called back. They have no evidence that a Derek Banning or Coltrane was behind any crime, but when they arrested a bunch of corrupted people some weeks ago and found that file with both your pictures, they caught only little fishes. They thought they didn't have a name for the leader because the word on the street was that those guys were working for Coltrane; so they thought it was a code name, referring to the former crooked cop. Now of course, they're inclined to believe that Banning was behind it."

Dempsey nodded wearily. It was somewhat strange and rather hard to put up with the fact that he was once again threatened by a Coltrane. Of course it wasn't the same person, but the name was still the same and this simple name conveyed so much. Too much. He took a deep breath.

"Ok. So, we know he arrived Wednesday in London, and I figure he stayed at Frank Carter's because of the Thorn brothers. The brothers were already in London since Monday and had their information from Lucky Willy. Jess and Maggie must have dyed their hair after so that when..." he took a second to say the name, he couldn't help it; he cleared his throat. "...when Coltrane arrived, they kidnapped the wrong girl. Coltrane realised their mistake and that must have been the fight the delivery boy overheard, but... they stuck to their plan. They killed Maggie and... Then it was Willy's turn."

"And now what?" Harry wondered aloud.

Chas frowned, running a hand on the back of his neck. "Now Coltrane must be looking for your children, or for you. He knows he failed the first part of his plan, and he won't be able to get you by surprise because he already sent his little letter."

"He has to be furious." Thompson said. "It was a well-thought plan if he had taken the right girl. Maybe his rage will get him less careful."

"No, he's careful." Dempsey argued. "He wore gloves, he used his mother's name to pass the frontier, he left nothing behind, nothing unforeseen. He didn't do any mistake, the others did."

"I agree." Harry nodded. "If he really wants to take his revenge on James because he got his father imprisoned then he must have been thinking about it for a while, polishing up every detail."

"Why not before then? And why fail?" Thompson wondered. After all, Coltrane died like ten years ago, you'd think his son had time to prepare a perfect plan.

"You said there had been a big raid of Coltrane's supporters just before you went in New York" Chas checked and James made a curt nod. "Maybe it took time for him to make his decision, he may not even have known Dempsey's name at the beginning. Maybe his mother's death was a kind of trigger. He wanted to get his revenge and started building up a team to help him to take his revenge but his initial plans were crushed by Davis' raid."

"He ended up with only the Thorn brothers as accomplices, one of them not even being used to such activities." Harry continued.

"But at least he had a place to go once in England thanks to their cousin." Thompson joined in.

"We have to find the cousin, this is the key." Dempsey ruffled his hair in exasperation. "What about this restaurant thing? You found where Frankie's working yet?"

"We're on it." Chas assured him. "The address we found thanks to his driving licence was wrong, a team went there but the woman in the flat said that Carter moved several months ago. We have no idea about his current location except for that restaurant hint. I've got men looking for him in the presumed neighbourhood."

"Right." Dempsey answered and he picked up some of the files.


	30. Chapter 30

The following day, Dempsey poured himself a cup of coffee and turned to face the nearly empty office. Most of the officers had been sent on the field and Chas had left he and Harry half an hour ago for a meeting with 'upstairs'.

As he sat back on his chair, the door opened and Thompson came in. He had taken a couple of hours of sleep having stayed up all night. He smiled weakly. "So nothing new?"

Harry shook her head and he grabbed a chair to sit with the couple. "I went into a dozen restaurants yesterday and showed his picture but no one identified him." He sighed.

"Same here. The only people who recognized him hadn't seen him in a year and complained he owed them money." Dempsey informed him.

Harry let herself fall backwards on her chair. "Maybe we're not looking for him in the right place."

"You think my informer was wrong."

"Or maybe he fed you a wrong tip-off because he knew what happened to Lucky Willly." Dempsey suggested cannily.

"Maybe." Thompson agreed. "But then how are we going to find him?"

There was a short pause in which the three of them seemed to believe they were once again in a dead-end, silence reigned in the room. James knew the sergeant was right; they needed an idea. He glanced at his wife, hoping she might get another brilliant idea like with the pizza box but she seemed as lost as he. Then suddenly he sprang into motion and started fumbling feverishly through the papers scattered on the desk.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked.

"I'm looking for...It's got to be..." he said slowly, discarding several papers till he found the one he wanted. "Here." He handed it to the others.

It was one of the shots that had been taken in the garage. The picture showed one corner of the room littered with chewing gum wrappers, an old matchbox and other stuffs. Part of the cement floor was stained with blood.

Harry looked up, James had a big smug smile on his face. She couldn't see his point. "What about it?"

"Can't you see it?"

"See what?" Thompson was as confused as Harry.

James snatched back the photo and pointed at the matchbox. "Here. It's just like with the pizza box, the name's on the lid."

"Yeah but we don't need other Photofit, we know who we're looking for." Thompson countered.

"No, you don't get it, this matchbox comes from a club, and the club has to be located near Frank Carter's home so that the brothers or Frank went there."

"I've heard of this club." Harry took back the photo checking the name again. "Only it's at the other side of the town. If they really are there, your teams won't find them."

"I don't know..." Thompson hesitated. "I'm not sure we should spread ourselves too thin. Jarvis wants us to focus on the ..."

"Tell you what. You focus on your side of the city, we'll take care of the rest." Dempsey stood up and Harry followed his lead.

As they reached the door Thompson said "Wait! I'm coming with you."

...

"I don't believe Coltrane or the Thorn brothers to be here. If you ask me, Frankie's on his own. We could go and have a little chat with him." Dempsey observed the little house opposite the street, weighing their chances. The club idea had proved to be a good lead as it had taken them less than fifteen minutes to gain information about Frank Carter whereabouts. But now they had to be careful; they couldn't afford to lose another witness.

"I say Harry rings at the front door while we get to the back garden and we catch him when he tries to escape by the backdoor." The American suggested.

When no answer came, Dempsey turned his head, Thompson was dialling a number on his cell phone. "What do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed.

"Calling in to the factory."

"I don't know, I think you should wait until we're absolutely sure we're right."

"It could get naughty." Harry joined in.

Dempsey grumbled and shook his head, then he grabbed Thompson's phone. "Gimme that damned phone!"

Back at the SI10, Chas listened to Dempsey with a frown. It seemed he had sent all his teams on the wrong side of the town. "I'm requesting a backup unit for you, it will be with you as soon as possible."

"That's a negative." Dempsey answered. "You start an activity on the street you're gonna scare our friend away."

"Alright" Chas consented. "But I want you to keep me inform on what's going on."

"Sure boss!" Dempsey grinned and he hung up. "The boss gave us the green light, we can go!" he added joyfully to the two others.

Thompson crossed the street swiftly and edged into the back garden but before Dempsey could follow him, Harry put a hand on his forearm to stop him. He turned and looked at her with a questioning look. "A problem?"

Harry took a deep breath, watching the ground then she looked up. "I have to know..." she started and swallowed.

"Know what?" Dempsey was a bit upset, he had a suspect to catch and it wasn't tea time!

"Do you miss it?... Working for the force." She looked at him straight in the eyes. "Do you regret the fact I convinced you to quit?"

Dempsey's lips parted a bit as he considered what to answer. If truth be told, a part of him was enjoying being back in the game despite the circumstances; police work had brought back good memories. His time in the NYPD and then in SI10 had given him great satisfaction; he had always enjoyed field actions, undercover work, putting criminals under arrest... Being a cop hadn't only been a job, it had been his way of life. A way of life he had enjoyed for years. When he had resigned from the force with Harry, his life changed in many ways; no more crazy chases, no hideout alone in a car with Harry till the crack of dawn, no more shootings... Not that he really missed risking his life, but the change was still hard to take. But then, James thought of all the other things he got to live instead, all those family dinners, all those mornings waking up with his wife in his arms, all those little things that happens only once in your kids' life; all of these he could have missed. He may never have become the father and the husband he was today if he was still a cop. He might even have died before trying to do so. Harry had been right, a choice had to be made between their police career and the family they wanted.

"Not a second." He finally answered. He gave her a small kiss and added. "I loved being a cop, but I love you so much more."


	31. Chapter 31

When Harry rang at the front door, she saw one window curtain shift and then she heard movement inside. Frank Carter clearly wasn't expecting any visit today. Thirty seconds later, a yelp echoed from the back garden and hurried footsteps sounded inside the house.

She tried to open the door, but it was locked! She ran around the house and as she did so she heard Thompson shouting "Police! On the floor, face down, spread your arms and legs!" She doubted the man would obey and entered the house through the back door.

The table of the living room had been knocked over and as she entered further into the room she spotted the three men running in the stairs. Carter and Thompson were already at the top and Carter turned round unexpectedly, surprising the police officer. He hit him hard and before Harry could understand what had happened, the sergeant fell over the banister and landed on the ground floor with a thud. James froze a second, and bend over the banister to see the motionless body of Thompson, then he noticed his wife kneeling near him and he launched himself after Carter again.

He kicked a door opened and spotted the man trying to escape through the window. He grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back inside. Carter fell but stood up straight away, his fists before his face, ready to fight.

James, too, raised his arms and braced himself for the first blow as Carter's fist aimed at his face. He missed but punched James right in the stomach with his second blow. He was about to hit him again but Dempsey countered with a right hook that made Carter stumble a bit. But the man got back into the fight immediately thrusting his fist in his opponent stomach again. James gasped, he was too old for this kind of things. The man was advancing on him again, hitting him heavily on the head.

Little stars popped in front of his eyes and he tasted blood. He was leaning on the wall, trying to stay up; he knew he had to fight back but he didn't know how. Carter had gone to the other side of the room, he was fumbling in a drawer. James shook his head and stood up straighter but saw with a pang of fear he had a gun levelled at his chest. If Frank Carter fired his gun now, he was finished.

All of a sudden, Harry entered the room; it was just what Dempsey needed. Momentarily distracted, Carter couldn't avoid his hefty blow on the forearm. The weapon slipped from his grasp and slid on the floor. Carter tried to retrieve it but Dempsey took advantage of the distraction to whack him in the back of his head. Moaning, the man fell on all fours, and Dempsey didn't lose any time to immobilize him on the floor. He caught hold of both his hands behind his back and forced him up, flattening him on the wall.

With his free hand, he wiped off the blood on his lip and turned to look at his wife. He was glad to see she had Carter's gun in her hand but concern for the sergeant flashed back in his mind instantly. "Thompson?"

"He's unconscious but he's breathing evenly, he should be fine." She reassured him.

She was about to take her cell phone to call for an ambulance when Dempsey reached out and said "Give me that gun."

Harry frowned. "What for?"

Frank Carter whined "Don't shoot me!"

"Just gimme that gun!" James repeated.

"I'd rather not. I'm watching him, don't worry." She pointed her weapon towards Carter; there was a glint in James' eyes that made it impossible for her to trust him with a gun right now.

Groaning, James pinned Carter harder to the wall. "You and I are gonna have a little chitchat okay?"

"I ain't got nothin' to say."

"Wrong answer! Come on try again, tell us about your cousins!"

"Cousins?" the man feigned ignorance. "I ain't got no cousin."

Dempsey could feel anger rising in him; he turned the man so that he would face him. "Listen to me scumbag, I haven't got any time to lose with you, and you're already in big trouble! You've taken in dangerous people, helped them out, and now you've seriously injured a police officer, oh yeah, you also got a handgun when it's forbidden! Better not worsen your case by making me lose my time, you got it?"

"I don't know what you talkin' about. I'm an honest man now, I changed." The man whimpered.

"I don't care about your little pathetic life! I want you to tell me about Coltrane! I know he was here and I know you helped him! So either you tell me where I can find him, or we'll have a little problem! "

Frank Carter gasped. "I... I didn't... he threatened me, I had no choice and..." his voice came out in rasp breath. "I don't know where he is."

"Oh yes you know, and you're gonna tell me!"

"You don't understand. This guy's crazy; if I give him away, I'm a dead man."

"Well I hope you've got a good life insurance Frankie because if you don't tell me where he is, you're a dead man too!"

The man's eyes widened in fear. "No, you wouldn't,... you're a cop..."

"Nope! I'm the target!" he answered with a mad smile.

Carter looked around him wildly. "There's a witness!"

James glanced at Harry. Her face was impassive; he couldn't have said if she trusted him to scare the man to give information or if she thought he might cross the line. And honestly, he couldn't have said what he was about to do either. He watched Carter with a wry smile. "Her? She's gonna close her eyes!"

"I... I don't know where he is!" Carter repeated.

"You filthy liar!" Dempsey pushed him against the wall, his arm on his throat. "Come on talk!"

"I'm telling you, I don't know!"

"I think you misunderstood me Frankie." Dempsey incensed, increasing the pressure on the man's throat. "I want information and I want it fast or I'll hit you so hard that Coltrane will look like a pussy cat!"

"Calm down!" Harry warned. "Killing him won't get us information."

"He knows it." Dempsey said through gritted teeth, his eyes boring pitilessly into Carter's fearful ones.

"He knows it too." The man croaked.

Dempsey frowned "Knows what?"

"Where they are." Carter breathed "Coltrane... He knows."

"Who they?" Dempsey yelled, a hint of panic mingled with the fury in his voice.

"Your children. He knows they are in a kind of castle, outside London. He's going there and he's going to kill them."


	32. Chapter 32

"I think he knocked his head when he hit the ground, make sure the ambulance arrives soon." Harry was concerned about DS Thompson; when they had left Carter's house, he was still unconscious. "Frank Carter's handcuffed in the kitchen, he's waiting for you. He doesn't seem to be keen on staying home now that he spilled the beans on Coltrane."

On her right, James cursed and accelerated as the traffic light ahead of them passed from green to amber, he wouldn't lose any time in the traffic today. They were just about to leave London now. After Carter's declaration they had jumped in their car, they had no time to wait for backups and anyway they were the nearest, all the other teams being on the other side of London.

"Listen Chas, we're already on our way to Winfield Hall, but you should try and call Watson to warn him in case we're too late."

She hung up and put her cell phone on the dashboard next to the firearm. James glanced at it then focused on the road, changing gear. "Did you check the gun?"

"Check the gun?" She repeated with a questioning look.

"Yeah check the gun! Is it loaded?"

Harry swallowed a sigh but grabbed the gun. It was a revolver with six chambers; there were only two cartridges in it. "You do know you're not allowed to use a gun." She tried.

"So how many shots do I have?"

Harry frowned but answered nevertheless. "Two."

James clicked his tongue crossly and Harry knew what he was thinking; there were three guys and only two bullets, he was one shot short.

"You do remember using a firearm is illegal in England." She tried again. "even to protect your own life."

"Well I made a promise to my wife. I told her I wouldn't let anyone touch our kids and I intend to do whatever it takes to keep my word." The tone of his voice let no place for arguments; he would do it, no matter what.

Harry looked by the window, she knew she wouldn't change his mind. But did she really want him not to use this gun if it proved necessary? She couldn't tell. Focusing on the landscape she noticed they were already approaching the little village below Winfield Hall.

When the phone rang again, Harry put it on speaker so that they could both listen to Chas.

"We should arrive in twenty minutes, maybe less. Watson told me he was taking care of your children security so you shouldn't worry too much about them." He tried to reassure them, then he cleared his throat. "Now don't go overreacting but Watson also told he had lost contact with three men watching the entrance of the estate."

"What!" James bellowed.

Harry's hand nearly dropped the phone as her entire body felt limp and weak. Coltrane was still a step ahead and if they weren't fast enough... If they didn't make it on time... Chas' voice brought her out of her inner nightmare.

"Yes, I know what it sounds like but maybe there's nothing to worry about, Watson is checking it at the moment."

"There's nothing to check and everything to worry about! Coltrane's already there!" Dempsey stepped on the gas, it would take time for Coltrane to go past all the guards and he would make sure to be there to catch this bastard before he could enter the house.

...

As James drove the last yards in the lane getting to the front steps he spotted a man getting inside through an opened window. The tyres squealed as he put all his weight on the brakes in front of the said window, turning the wheel so as to avoid a bunch of flowers; as the car came to an abrupt halt James leaned to grab the gun and got out in a kind of frenzy. He jumped on the window with an amazing ease for a man his age, but his children were in danger, there was nothing he couldn't have done.

The room in which he arrived was empty. Dashing in the corridor, he saw a door closing on his left and ran inside. It was a long room filled with old furniture and lined with knights' armours and ancient paintings. He spotted two men running ahead of him and yelled "Coltrane!"

He pointed his gun at Coltrane and was ready to shoot before the man had even turned round. James put his finger on the trigger but as he was about to fire he saw a shadow moving in the mirror in front of him. Someone was attacking him from behind and he barely had the time to avoid the halberd Mike Thorn was aiming at his back. Luckily for Dempsey, the weight of the ancient weapon surprised Thorn who couldn't aim properly, but his aim wasn't the only one going off course. Dempsey's shot had been deviated when he had avoided the blow and Coltrane was looking at him with a wry smile from the other side of the room.

Dempsey would have shot his gun a second time if he hadn't to deal with Mike Thorn who was raising his pickaxe again. Diving behind a suit of armour Dempsey caught hold of a shield to protect himself but Thorn was getting better with his aim and the shield quickly proved not to be up to it as the first blow cracked it in two. Throwing it aside, he backed away looking wildly around him for a weapon to use; his last cartridge he saved for Coltrane.

All around him were knights; a few had shields with colourful blazons, others had flags on long sticks, but none of them was carrying a sword or a pike. On the other side of the room, Derek Coltrane and Bill Thorn had fled by the door and he was desperate to go after them but his opponent didn't seem ready to give up the fight. They were both playing 'hide and seek' between the armours running around them, avoiding each other.

As James avoided another blow he stumbled and collided with a knight that was momentarily destabilized. He watched it waver on the spot and an idea dawned upon him. When the next blow came he jumped behind a knight and pushed it with all his might. The armour creaked and clanged as it fell, disembodying itself onto Mike Thorn who fell on the ground, knocked out.


	33. Chapter 33

Dempsey ran all the length of the knight's room and arrived in a dining room. His wife, Watson and another man, who had to belong to the surveillance team, were fighting against Coltrane and Bill Thorn.

In the furthest corner of the dining room, the security guard was wrestling with the little brother. They were punching each other repeatedly. Harry was nearby, protected behind an oak dresser, apparently looking for a way to finish Thorn. She looked up as James watched her and a relieved smile crept over her face. James gave her a small nod 'he was fine.'

A new deflagration brought them back to reality. Hidden behind a column, Coltrane had just shot towards the black man and missed him only by inches. Watson crouched lower behind the upturned table he was using as a shield before rising again and aiming at the column. James took advantage of the cover to run and find shelter behind the same table.

Noticing him, Coltrane sneered behind his column. "I'm glad you could make it Dempsey! I was afraid you might miss the highlight of the day."

"Well I'm here and I ain't gonna miss you Coltrane." James called back. "Or maybe should I call you Banning?"

"You!" he whispered furiously and he shot wildly at the table again. The shot went right through the wood. The hole smoked slightly between Dempsey's and Watson's shoulders.

A little mad laugh came from the column. "You killed my father Dempsey but now I will finally avenge him." His voice was calm now. "Tell me, where are your children?"

James looked wildly at Watson. "Don't worry." He simply said. Well this was easier said than done. Dempsey looked at his gun. Only one bullet left. He had to get Coltrane. He took a deep breath and stood up, aiming at the column but Coltrane was already ready to shoot and before he could pull the trigger, Dempsey had to dive back under the table. Coltrane's bullet hissed over his head.

'Damn it' it was harder than he would have thought. He glanced left, Watson was checking his gun. His magazine was empty. Looking further James saw the security guy lying on the floor. Dead or unconscious he couldn't say. Bill Thorn was now battling against Harry. She was holding his arm with both her hands trying to make him release a candelabra. The man's face was screwed up with effort as he tried to knock her down.

For a second, Dempsey couldn't take his eyes off the scene but then a new gunshot sounded. He turned his head to Watson. Wide-eyed, the man was taking a rattling breath, obviously experiencing great pain. Watson put a trembling hand on his stomach. His shirt was already stained with blood. Looking wildly around him, Dempsey took off his jacket, balled it and pressed it against Watson's stomach, then he put the man's hand on it. "Hold on mate!"

Watson nodded. "Don't worry for me, I've been worse." He tried to smile but came up with nothing more than a grimace.

Incensed, Dempsey stood up, ready to shoot the bastard but he heard Harry gasped. Horrified he saw Bill Thorn trying to strangle her. His hands were pressuring her throat and he could see him gloating at the dying woman. As he watched, Harry was gasping for air and she barely had any force left to try and loosen the man's grip. Changing his aim in a split second, James pointed his gun at Bill Thorn and fired. This time he didn't miss his target and hit him squarely in the chest. The man released his hold on Harry and stumbled backwards, his eyes blank. Harry fell on her knees, a hand on her sore throat, taking deep breaths. James joined her in two big strides and was reassured to see a weak smile on her face. Bill Thorn finally lost his balance and crashed into the dresser, going through the glass holder and sending all the china in the air. As the man and the china hit the floor there was a deafening clatter followed by a high pierced scream.

James raised his head instantly, he had recognised his daughter. She must have been scared by the sounds of the battle. But he wasn't the only one to notice the shriek. Smirking, Coltrane dashed in the corridor following the direction of the sound.

Dempsey jumped on his feet, throwing his now useless revolver aside. He darted through the broken china, ran around the table and jumped over a fallen chair. He got into the corridor and glimpsed Coltrane at the other side of the passage. Coltrane waved happily and opened the door, his gun at the ready.

James started running at double speed but no sooner had the door closed behind Coltrane, than a terrible gunshot reverberated inside the house. Then a second one echoed just as loudly.

"Nooooooo!" Dempsey froze inside, but he never stopped running. He pushed the door opened, knowing perfectly well that he wasn't ready for what was waiting for him inside. His mind was in a haze of blur. This couldn't be, this couldn't be.


	34. Chapter 34

The first thing he saw, was his daughter, Jessica, crouching in a corner, her arms around her knees, her hands on her ears. A dark hole above her head marked the place of a missed gunshot. The poor girl was so scared that she didn't seem aware of her surroundings anymore. But she was still alive.

James' eyes travelled along the room quickly stopping on Coltrane's body, lying motionless on the ground a few feet behind him. Blood was slowly trickling down his shoulder. He didn't pay much attention to him and soon his eyes found what he was looking for.

Thomas was leaning on the wall, his eyes unfocused, his arms dangling on each side of him. His mouth was slightly opened, as if he still couldn't believe what had happened. For a wild second, James thought that he had been hurt and his eyes scanned his body but he couldn't see any sign of a wound. Then a thud echoed and James saw a gun, his gun, on the ground just below Thomas' shaky hand.

Something clicked in his mind and relief washed over him. The first shot had been Tom's and the second one had been Coltrane's, but being shot he couldn't aim accurately and missed Jessie before collapsing onto the ground.

James was nearly too happy to breathe properly. His children were safe. They were both safe. He laughed nervously but jumped as someone arrived on the threshold. Recognizing his wife, he smiled and reached out a reassuring hand and pulled her inside the room. "They're fine." He whispered, not realising it himself.

Harry spotted her children as James' words made their way and she took a shuddering breath as tears slid down her cheeks. This was over. At last, this terrible ordeal was over and her children were unharmed.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw James approaching his daughter and put a hand on her shoulder whispering "Hey, princess." The girl looked up, her big blue eyes shining with tears. She looked stunned to see her father. Sitting next to her, he soothed down. "I'm here. It's over now Jessie, it's over." and he hugged her in a tight embrace. "Oh daddy..." she sobbed and held on tight to him too.

Harry focused her attention on her son who seemed shell-shocked. He hadn't moved an inch. Spotting the gun on the floor, she closed her eyes a second as comprehension dawned on her. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she went to him and kissed him on the forehead. She held him tight then let go of him, rubbing his shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. "My big boy..." she murmured.

"I shot him..." Thomas' voice was hoarse, as if coming from a distance. Then he looked up into his mother's eyes. "I shot that man." He said in a quavering voice.

Harry shook her head with a small smile. "No." she corrected. There was no hesitation in her voice. "You saved your sister, that's very different."

A little light of hope appeared in the boy's eyes but disappeared almost instantly. "But you said..." he swallowed hard. "I... I disobeyed, I kept the gun and..."

"...and I'm glad you did." Harry finished quickly. "You did save your sister Tommy, and... your father was right, you are old enough to protect your family. I'm so proud of you." She sobbed and hugged him again. She felt James' hand on her shoulder and turned. He was standing right behind her, one arm around Jessica's shoulder. Harry caressed her daughter's face as Dempsey clapped his son on the back. The couple shared a genuine smile, a perfect moment of happiness.

A scraping noise and a sudden gush of wind made them all jumped. Harry shuddered, noticing the trail of blood on the floor, but that wasn't what was upsetting her, it was the missing body of Coltrane. She turned to her husband. His face had hardened when he had seen Coltrane's figure escaping by the opened window. He let go of his daughter muttering "Never again..."

The next moment, Dempsey had bent to pick up his magnum at Tom's feet and in a dash he was gone by the window too, yelling "Coltraaane!"

He was chasing him across the lawn and the gun in his hand felt like an old faithful friend that wouldn't let him down on this critical time. Coltrane had already reached the shelter of some trees, but Dempsey was confident that he would catch up with him easily; after all Coltrane was wounded. Soon he would be able to put an end to all this and this time he would make sure that Coltrane would never stand up again.


	35. Chapter 35

Harry watched the curtains billowing before the opened window, unwilling to believe what had just happened. Her mind simply refused to take in the last events. She felt drained emotionally, she couldn't take anything more. She tightened her arms around her children; she wouldn't let go of them. The boy and the girl standing on each side of her were the only things existing in the world, everything else was too complicated, too distressing.

"Harry?"

The voice made her jump. "Chas?" she articulated, surprised. In all the commotion she hadn't heard the police arrive to Winfield Hall.

"Are you alright?" he asked and she nodded. "Watson's injured; we found the Thorn brothers on our way in, but no trace of Coltrane. Where is Dempsey?"

Suddenly Harry's mind was working furiously again and she knew what she had to do. "Stay with them, will you." She demanded and rushed after her husband in the gardens.

She looked around her but the two men were nowhere to be seen. Making up her mind she ran as fast as she could on the slippery grass, heading towards the tree line. Coltrane was bound to have try and reach shelter amongst the trees.

As she was skirting trunks in her race, she caught the first glimpse of them a bit to her right. They had run out of the copse and were now in open ground. Coltrane was clearly limping; it wouldn't be long before James caught up with him.

When she reached them, Dempsey had cornered Coltrane near the lake. The injured man was crawling on the lake's edge, unarmed and unable to escape. Dempsey's gun was steady in his hand, pointing at Coltrane's head. He was ready to shoot but Harry called out "James!"

Staggered, Dempsey turned round. He watched his wife but turned away from her almost immediately, taking his aim at Coltrane again.

"You can't shoot him or he wins." Harry said desperately. "You know you can't James. Come on."

"He deserves to die." He said with so much contempt that Harry knew that he wasn't seeing only Maggie's killer in him, but also Joe's as the resemblance with his father was so striking not only in his actions but also in his appearance. She felt like she had so long ago, when Dempsey had been on the verge to kill Derek's father; she knew she had to say something, anything to stop him.

"You didn't kill Maggie, he did. Just like his father killed Joe. Justice will take care of him now."

No reaction.

"James, we need you." She almost pleaded.

Slowly, very slowly, Dempsey lowered his gun. Harry was right, this bastard wasn't worth destroying his life. He turned round, Harry was smiling weakly. He started to walk in her direction.

Suddenly, Coltrane jumped on his feet holding a penknife he had taken out of his jacket pocket. "Watch out!" Harry barely had time to warn her husband who turned round, caught hold of the man's arm and stopped the blade only a few inches from his torso.

Harry was rooted to the spot, watching apprehensively the two men battling. Coltrane wouldn't let go of his knife and with a jerk, he freed himself from James' grasp. Taking a step backwards, Coltrane held his knife before him, threatening to plunge the blade into James' flesh. As he moved his arm forward, Dempsey caught hold of his wrist again and squeezed it. At last, the knife fell in the tall grass.

Harry sighed half relieved. Now the men were fighting with their fists, walking in circle, punching each other whenever they had the opportunity to do so. Harry spotted James' gun on the ground and was about to go and pick it up when Coltrane bend to give a right to Dempsey, slipped and lost his balance, colliding with James who didn't react quickly enough. They both fell in the lake in a thunderous splatter.

Harry watched anxiously as James got his head out of the water and shook himself. Coltrane emerged a few seconds after, looking bewildered. Dempsey caught hold of Coltrane by the hem of his shirt and got him standing. He pressed his thumb on the wounded shoulder with sadistic pleasure and gave him one last punch; Derek Coltrane fell back in the water, motionless.

"Life is hard then you die." He said contemptuously.

Without a backward glance, Dempsey got out of the water. Police officers were arriving at the lake now. "He's all yours." He announced, bending to pick up his gun. He put it in his trousers and went straight to his wife.

She pushed away the hair on his face, smiling.

"I'm wet and I'm cold."

"You look it." She confirmed.

"I could do with a bit of warming." he hinted.

"Mmmm, I bet you could." She feigned not to understand his innuendo.

"If you still got that apartment, we could finish what we started." He suggested, coming closer and slipping his arm around her waist.

"We didn't start anything remember" she teased.

"Didn't we?" he grinned.

Then slowly, as if it was their first kiss he gently brushed her lips with his, once, twice, before kissing her fully. The kiss didn't last long but he had filled it with all the love, the tenderness and the passion he felt for her. When their lips parted, their eyes found each other and delivered the same message. They smiled, they were so happy together.


	36. Epilogue

**Epilogue  
**

_Several weeks later  
_

"So you're sure you didn't find anything?" James checked again in a low voice, watching a piece of paper Chas Jarvis was giving back to him.

"No. I looked for him on the computer but there's nothing. Not a single fine." Chas didn't know if this was good news or not, James was frowning. "You were expecting something?"

"No, no..." James sighed. "I'm not even sure he's got his driving licence."

It was Chas' turn to frown. "You mean he's driving without one?"

"No! I just... I thought..." James grimaced. "Forget it!"

Unnoticed by the two men, a beautiful blonde woman wearing a black satin dress arrived at their level. "What are you two doing in a corner?" she enquired with a smile, then she held out a glass to the superintendant. "Champagne?"

"Thank you." Chas took the glass, glancing at the paper James was now trying to conceal in a pocket. He took the hint and didn't say more, but Harry was shrewd enough to notice the glance and grabbed the paper from her husband's hand. "What's that you're hiding?"

James opened his mouth but it was too late. Harry was looking at him with a severe expression. "Don't tell me you asked Chas..." she demanded, her hands on her hips.

"Well..." James ran a hand in his hair.

"James!" she admonished.

"We don't know anything about this guy! She met him what?... two days ago!"

"It's been more than a month now!" she corrected.

He looked at her sheepishly. "At least now we know he's clean."

The woman shook her head and turned to Chas who was clearly not understanding a word. "Charlie is Jessica's boyfriend." she enlightened him. "James has been looking for every reason to criticise him. And now he's up to make him a gangster or something!"

"Not a gangster, but... You never know!" he finished sulkily. His eyes had fallen on his daughter some feet from them, laughing, hand in hand with this Charlie boy. Sure, he was glad that his daughter had finally overcome Maggie's death, but he would have preferred her to find a new best friend, or even adopt a puppy. This boy hanging around his little girl was clearly not for his liking!

Harry was shaking her head disbelievingly. "Charlie is a very nice boy and I like him."

James snorted before following her back to their guests.

It was a beautiful sunny July afternoon and the sun shone over Winfield Hall gardens. Marquees had been set on the lawn and a soft music was playing. Dodging around some tables and chairs, James reached the corner of one marquee and leaned on the pole.

Throwing away the paper with Charlie's name, he scrutinized the garden. Harry was now talking cheerfully with Chas and his wife near the buffet; he didn't really feel like joining them. His son was joking with some friends in the shade of an old tree enjoying the beginning of summer holidays. He smiled thinking of his son's good A-levels results which had decided them to throw this little party. But soon, the smile was wiped off his face as his eyes fell on Jessie, kissing this young hooligan! What on earth could she see in this boy? Ok, maybe he was smart, kind of handsome and well-mannered but apart from that... and anyway, Jessie was still a little baby, she shouldn't be hanging around with any boy...

"Not always easy to let them grow up!" the voice took him out of his musings.

"Hey! Watson!" Dempsey cheered. "When did you get here?"

"I just arrived!"

"Well it's good to see you again! You look fine." James said, clapping him on the back.

"Yeah, I'm as fit as a fiddle, don't worry!" Watson laughed.

"Good, good." He scratched his head. "I never got the occasion to thank you properly for everything you did. We really appreciated you know and..."

"Don't mention it please!" Watson interrupted him. "I was happy to help you." He said truthfully then added "I'm going to say hello to Harry."

"Yeah, you do that!" James nodded and he ran his hand in his hair again, sighing.

"Your hair are going to be a real mess, mummy's not gonna be happy!" His daughter was standing next to him, grinning.

He watched her with half a smile. "So you finally unglued yourself?"

Jessica chuckled. "If only you tried to meet him."

"I've met him! He's always inviting himself." He grumbled.

The girl shook her head, grinning. "_I_ invited him. Just like you and Tommy invited your friends."

"Tommy passed his exams and that was the least we could do after what Chas and Watson did for us!" James justified the presence of other people.

Jessica scanned the garden, looking for someone. "And what about that other guy? The sergeant who solved the case with you?"

"Thompson? Oh, well... he's working on a case at the moment, but Chas says he's fine." James had never really appreciated the sergeant and was clearly not bothered that this one didn't come.

"Well anyway, this is a party, there's music, so I was supposed to have a date!" Seeing her father's face, Jessica surmised another word. "A partner?"

"Let's say a guest." James settled for.

Jessica chuckled again. "Come on, you wouldn't want me to dance with this little insect!" she nodded towards her brother. "I thought I was worthier?"

"Well I'm not sure Charlie is!"

"Dad!" Jessica scolded so James rolled his eyes and kissed his daughter on the forehead.

"Just promise me you'll always be my little princess, alright?"

"I promise." She kissed her father and ran to meet Charlie again.

As he watched his daughter talking animatedly with her boyfriend, two arms slid slowly around his waist and he felt his wife's chin settling on his shoulder. "Trust me, he's a nice boy."

"Yea, yea... I know!" he admitted grudgingly.

Harry smiled. "This little party was a good idea. I've spent a wonderful afternoon."

"I've spent twenty wonderful years with you." He whispered back.

Harry bit her lip; he was still able to make her flush with unexpected nice words. James cupped her face, their eyes locked and they kissed each other lovingly.

_The End  
_

_Thanks to everyone for reading my story, I hope you enjoyed it._


End file.
